Personally, I found this sort of quiet and dull overall. I read it immediately after reading [b:Emile and the Field|58496713|Emile and the Field|Kevin Young|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1629120236l/58496713._SX50_.jpg|91866951] and I think it suffered in comparison. Whereas Emile has a musicality and seems to speak directly to children, I thought the poems in Mashmallow Clouds were clunky to read aloud, and most didn't feel like they'd have much child appeal.

There are a few poems in this collection that I appreciated. I liked "Remote" and "Cow Pie" which are among the few funny poems in the book. I also liked "Trees" ("Growing up for a tree / is mostly reaching out and out to touch another, / and that's enough of a life.") because it reminded me of a scene in the movie C'mon C'mon where this little boy is so excited to talk about how trees communicate with each other.

The subtitle (Two Poets at Play among Figures of Speech) made me think these poems would be exploring well-known figures of speech in a playful way, but that's not what's going on here. It would be more accurate to say this is Two Poets Making Observations Using Figurative Language. ( )

Wonderful artwork to go along with poems, kids will enjoy creating their own! My favorites were The World Without Me, Flyswatter, and Thunderstorm. ( )

Poets . . . Why'd It Have to be Poets?

I'm not a fan of poetry on the best of days,
and this is not the best of days,
and these are not the best of poems.
They couldn't even afford to buy a rhyme,
the poor fucks.

(Poetry lesson: Write your review like normal, capitalize the first line, then hit return every couple of inches or whenever you come to punctuation (capitalizing the first letter of the next line is optional), and -- ta-da! -- you've written poetry. Now post it online and ruin other people's day the same way yours has been ruined.)

(Another project! I'm trying to read all the picture books and graphic novels on the kids section of NPR's Books We Love 2022.) ( )

A lovely, playful, contemplative collection of poems and illustrations in four sections (Fire, Water, Air, Earth).

"...but my friend
who always sees things as they are
told me no..." (from "A Disappointment"

"Each hour of sleep is an hour of healing." (first line of "Sleep")

"Deep in the night, a frightening dream
tried my door, and I called out for help,
my voice all alone in the silence.
The moon showed up almost at once,
wearing its white latex gloves, and dusted
the doorknob for prints and checked
all the windows for damage." (from "A Bad Dream")

"Growing up for a tree
is mostly reaching out and out to touch another,
and that's enough of a life." (from "Trees")

See also: Out of Wonder: Celebrating Poets and Poetry by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, Marjory Wentworth, and Ekua Holmes; Firefly July by Paul Janeczko and Melissa Sweet ( )