In Sing a Song of Seasons, editor Fiona Waters (Why Does My Mum Always Iron a Crease in My Jeans?) curates a collection of poems that evoke the atmospheres, memories and pastimes we cherish as the months pass. Verses by favorite romantics (William Wordsworth, Victor Hugo), modernists (E.E. Cummings, D.H. Lawrence) and realists (Thomas Hardy, John Updike) accompany selections from popular children's book authors (Margaret Wise Brown, Beatrix Potter) and a refreshing number of anonymous but recognizable entries ("Star Wish," "Red Sky at Night") and singable classics ("Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush," "Row, Row, Row Your Boat").
Stunning mixed-media illustrations by Frann Preston-Gannon (The Journey Home) depict critters, environments and weather phenomena with lifelike textures and contrasts that pop. This anthology impresses with its captivating art, careful balance of melancholy and uplifting verses, and timeless themes of playing, observing, aging and enduring through the years. --Samantha Zaboski, freelance editor and reviewer.