R IS FOR RHYME

Twenty-six sidebar lessons on poetry, each linked to both a poem and a cheeky colorful illustration. The wit and mischief in the painterly illustrations (Juhasz identifies himself as a caricaturist) welcome even new poetry readers to give verse a try. Under “N is for Narrative,” for example, there’s the tightly metered poem, “Reading Homer” and a panoramic painting that includes an angry Cyclops menacing a Greek ship as a goddess arises from the sea and Homer himself hovers over a young dreadlocked boy reading The Odyssey wide-eyed. The accessible sidebar lessons (each about 150 words long) read like entries in a children’s encyclopedia. Other topics run the gamut from the basic (“L is for Limerick) to the esoteric (“T is for Tanka”). This rich compendium would also work well in the classroom, but for an older age group than indicated by the publisher. (Picture book. 4-10)