This Amazing World
Lois Rock
Hardcover
(Good Books, Oct. 25, 2002)
What a lovely way to keep alive a child’s natural sense of wonder! This Amazing World is a sparkling collection of poems about anything and everything around us—the birds and the animals, the plants and the trees, the land and the sea and the sky. Short, but deeply in touch with life, the poems mark the movement of the sun from daybreak to darkness—"The Great Unseen." They chart the unfolding of the seasons. They lift and swing—"Create a Space"; "A Prayer for Song Birds." Some of the poems stand sturdy and stalwart—"Choice of Timbers"; "There Grows a Tree." Some notice "Weeds"; some "Noise and Stillness." They introduce "Gruffalo the Buffalo" and the color "Pink." They observe "The Silver Road" that stretches out from the moon. God is everywhere present, instigating the beauty and delight that run through all these poems. They are the work of writers who are well-known and lesser known; from the past and from today. Ruth River’s pen-and-ink drawings, filled with splashes of color, add vibrancy to these full-of-life poems. This Amazing World is a perfect gift for everyone—especially anyone 6-12 years—who loves exploring. "And promises of morning keep Pouring around us while we sleep."