Echoes for the Eye: Poems to Celebrate Patterns in Nature

Barbara Juster Esbensen was the author of many popular fiction and nonfiction picture books, including Baby Whales Drink Milk, another Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science title.

Holly Keller has illustrated numerous picture books, such as Nola Bucks Morning in the Meadow, and the Lets-Read-and-Find-Out Science title Lets Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans. She lives in West Redding, CT.

This charming book, bearing the subtitle ``Poems to Celebrate Patterns in Nature,'' introduces many geometric patterns from the natural world and establishes an agreeable link between aesthetic enjoyment and natural history. Any pedagogical intent quickly succumbs to the tone of wonder and delight at patterns found throughout the universe in phenomena immense and small. In ``Branches,'' Esbensen (Dance With Me, 1995, etc.) juxtaposes the branches and roots of a tree with the veins of a leaf, then with the lightning in the sky and the veins in a hand. The final poem, ``Circles,'' begins with the ripples in a pool after a fish jumps and the rings in a tree trunk, then moves to a circle of musk oxen defending their group, a dappled fawn, the planets, hibernating bears (curled in sleep), and, finally, a bedtime scene of parent and child, an arm curved around a book, the moon shining, and a cat rolled up cozily at the foot of the bed. Soft watercolors accompany the free verse; the layout reflects a use of patterns as well. A welcome collaboration. (Picture book/poetry. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.