IN THE SPACE OF THE SKY

Frasier’s (Miss Alaineus, 2000, etc.) bright yellow, orange, red, green, and blue collages of cut paper set in quilt-like designs are dazzling. Birds, flowers, leaves, a snail, the sun, the moon, and stars are all arranged in swirls of color, bound together with paper stitches that add to the color and sense of movement. Undeniably beautiful, they overwhelm the spare, contemplative poem that they accompany. “There–in the space of the sky is a field for the sun, / a sea for the moon, / clouds where storms can hide, / stars where silence sings.” The words are lovely to read aloud. In the end a child goes “into my house . . . And here–in the space of my dream, / I see all of the earth and all of the sky.” The illustrations do not express the distance that these words imply. The poem and the illustrations are each lovely on their own. Together, they result in sensory overload that limits rather than expands the imagination. (Picture book/poetry. 4-7)