LEMONADE SUN

Dotlich (Sweet Dreams of the Wild, 1996) uses her poetry to call up moments in a summer. She celebrates the small tantalizing creatures—bumblebees and butterflies, ladybugs and fireflies— and takes year-around pleasures and puts them outside under the sun: a game of jacks, the reading of a book. The best of her imagery is startling and memorable—whispering through a dragonfly's wing, the sidewalk song of a marble game; there are a number of poems that warrant immediate re-reading, both to pick up on the intimations and to experiment with the beat and wordplay. At least two jump-rope rhymes are worth memorizing; one is a Double-Dutch ditty, while the other could serve as a geography lesson. Anchoring the collection is Gilchrist's artwork; it projects a clear sense that all the fun isn't going to last forever. The cityscapes are especially strong and evocative. (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)