by Ted Kooser, with illustrations by Jon Klassen (jP Kooser)
I had somehow missed notice of this picture book by former Nebraska and United States Poet Laureate Ted Kooser (and who at one time lived just one block over from my family home in Lincoln). It was mentioned in the profile of illustrator Jon Klassen in What’s Your Favorite Animal? (see separate review this month). An interesting take on neglect, ruin, and nature, this story certainly resonated with me as a Great Plains native. It is melancholy but softly hopeful as it chronicles not just a house and woods over time but a family unit. One of Kooser’s own descriptions of the book says it is about change as a personal and universal theme, and he further states “A reader’s own interpretation is fine, too. I have said over and over to students and audiences to whom I’ve spoken that what the author meant is not very important. It’s what the story means to the reader that really counts.”
(If you enjoy this, you may also
wish to try Bag in the Wind by Kooser, or any of the many poetry collections by Ted Kooser.)
( official Jon Klassen
web site ) | ( official Ted Kooser web site )
See Scott C.’s review of Valentines by Ted Kooser in the February 2011 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
See Meredith M.’s review of Local Wonders: Secrets of the Bohemian Alps by Ted Kooser in the June 2012 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
Recommended
by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library
Have you read or listened to
this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
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