Gr 5 Up-Greenberg invited 43 poets to choose a piece of modern art and to write a poetic response to it. The result is a gorgeous, thoughtful, stimulating collection of art and poetry that turns the standard poetry/art book on its head. "How would you paint a poem?" Bobbi Katz asks in her response to a Mark Rothko painting. "Prepare the canvas carefully/With shallow pools of color/Stacked secrets waiting to be told-." Greenberg's book might best be seen as an embodiment of that poem. Each work of art is impeccably reproduced, the color and design are exceptional, and each poem is given room on the page to breathe. The art glows, the words reflect the images and create more light-"Florine, we would live inside your colors! Red joy,/golden rushes of hope-" Naomi Shihab Nye writes about Florine Stettheimer's The Cathedrals of Broadway. If a picture book is defined as a marriage of word and art, then Heart to Heart is not only a wonderful poetry collection, but also a picture book of the highest quality.-Kathleen Whalin, Greenwich Country Day School, CT
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Gr. 5-up. Specially commissioned, original poems celebrate some of the finest twentieth-century American art in this beautiful, surprising volume. Such well-known writers as Nancy Willard, X. J. Kennedy, Lee Upton, and Angela Johnson wrote poems inspired by artworks created through the century, but the book's organization is thematic rather than chronological. The poems are grouped according to how the writer responded to the art: some tell a story about the whole painting; some speak from the perspective of an object within the artwork; some transform the visual elements into poetic metaphors; some talk about the artists and their techniques. From a tight diamante and pantoum to lyrical free verse, the range of poetic styles will speak to a wide age group. Younger children, for example, will love Deborah Pope's "On Lichtenstein's 'Bananas and Grapefruit,'" which melts quickly down the page to a delicious ending: "gulppulp / sweet part / eat / art." Teens (and adults) will enjoy the inquisitive depth of such selections as Ronald Wallace's "Mobile/Stabile." Concluding with biographical notes on each poet and artist, this rich resource is an obvious choice for teachers, and the exciting interplay between art and the written word will encourage many readers to return again and again to the book. To learn more about the book's origins, see the Story behind the Story on the opposite page. Gillian Engberg
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About the Author
Jan Greenberg is the coauthor of several books on American art and architecture and the author of many works of fiction for young readers. Her books have received many honors: ALA Notable, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Booklist Editor’s Choice, IRA Teacher’s Choice, Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, and Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
