A Pocketful of Poems

  There’s so much vibrant ener­gy and fresh­ness in this col­lab­o­ra­tion, the book will dance into the hearts of chil­dren right away. Tiana … opens her hands full of let­ters and her pock­et full of words. Each page has two fac­ing poems, both in Tiana’s voice: one is short and brac­ing, the oth­er is a haiku …  They are on the same sub­ject and often play call-and response to each oth­er … the haiku usu­al­ly floats or sways or sashays amidst the illus­tra­tions. And what illus­tra­tions they are! Step­toe is a fab­u­lous­ly inven­tive col­lag­ist … The let­ters that come out of Tiana’s pock­et and adorn the end­pa­pers look like baked molasses can­dy, lus­cious and edi­ble.” (Book­list, starred review)