144. Where I Live

Where I Live: Poems About My Home, My Street, and My Town. Edited by Paul B. Janeczko. Illustrated by Hyewon Yum. 2023. [March] 48 pages. [Source: Library] [Poetry collection for young children] First sentence: Home East side, West side, all around the town. Which side is the best side? Wherever you sit down to eat your supper, pet your cat, do homework, watch TV. Any old place that's your home base is where you want to be. X.J. Kennedy Premise/plot: Where I Live is a poetry collection edited by Paul B. Janeczko. The poems are gathered together into three sections, "Home," "Street," and "Town." Each poem is illustrated. Many poems celebrate the ordinary, the little moments that make up life. My thoughts: Poetry collections are interesting. I always find a few to love. I rarely love them one and all. Such is the case with this new collection. There were a handful of poems that I definitely enjoyed reading. I thought they worked really well. I could see using them in the classroom, sharing them with young ones.  One of my favorite visual poems is by Nicholas Virgilio. "Now the swing is still:  a suspended tire centers the autumn moon." The illustration shows a tire swing with a centered moon. It's a beautiful image. I loved Ice Cream Truck by Irene Latham On summer Mondays we listen for the jinglesong that holds half notes of winter: fudgesicle orangesicle pushpop bombpop firecracker snowball and ice cream on a stick that drips unless your tongue is swift like mine. The Walk Crunching my boots through another snowstorm, each footprint a temporary tattoo against the frosted prairie. ~ Charles Waters   © 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers