ANEESA LEE AND THE WEAVER'S GIFT

PLB 0-688-15998-2 From Grimes (My Man Blue, p. 721, etc.), 13 brief poems about the art of weaving, literally and figuratively. The poems describe the art and craft of weaving including gathering natural materials for making dyes, spinning yarn, warping the board, dressing the loom, and completing the tapestry. Then there is Aneesa Lee, “a weave/of black/and white/and Japanese/a blend that sometimes/led to teasing,” in a poem that exhibits the poet’s larger theme, of how love weaves families together and how the craft of weaving links the past and present, connecting people in “a community of cloth.” Some of the poems sing; others are awkward and trip on the tongue. Bryan’s illustrations smooth out the difficulties, for each poem and drawing is bordered in a narrow band of brightly colored weaving that unifies the book. The illustrations of Aneesa, her family, and the weaving process contain bright threads of unexpected color, creating another kind of tapestry. Some pictures achieve a shimmering intensity: those created for “Sunset” and “Once” are so full of motion, they hardly lie still on the page. (glossary) (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)