LEAST THINGS

Poetry and natural history mingle in this mother/son collaboration, as it has in its six predecessors. For each of Stemple’s big, clear photographs—mostly close-ups of a snail, a squirrel, insects, reptiles, and similar small creatures, all in natural settings—Yolen provides a handful of facts about the subject, and a haiku. All but one of the poems is framed in first person: the butterfly asks, “Can you paint a psalm? / Can you wallpaper a dream? / I can—with my wings.” In the 14th and final picture, a baby’s hand nestles in an adult’s: “We walk hand in hand, / My fingers signaling trust, / Yours telling me love.” A solid addition to the poetry of science, and the science in poetry, for younger fans of both. (Picture book/poetry/nonfiction. 5-8)