SKY WORDS

Fifteen poems about the sky, its changing moods and weathers and the things to be seen in it—skywriting or fireworks, the moon and stars, ``Monarchs Migrating,'' birds. In irregular lines with rhymes sometimes cropping up in unexpected places, Singer (Turtle in July, 1989) puts a unique slant on familiar sights—''At the Fair'': ``...the scariest ride/at the fair/Red and gold in the air/...like a giant's hammer/covered with jewels''; ``Twilight'': ``In the hour of the bat/when the world fades like a photo/left lying in a drawer...''; or, ``Fog'': ``The fog is/a river with no direction/a dream with no doors...'' Ray's mixed-media illustrations range from jagged slashes that convey the fair's perpetual motion and garish lights to the subtlest of washes for ``Fog'' and myriad shades of gray for ``Twilight.'' A good collection for use in thematic teaching units as well as in the poetry section. (Poetry/Picture book. 6-9)