Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets by Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth
Reviewed by: Brian Wilson
Children
Title: Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets
By: Kwame Alexander with Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth
Published: 2017
Call #: x808.1 Out
Poet/novelist Kwame Alexander won the 2015 Newbery Award, a 2015 Coretta Scott King Author Honor, and the 2017 Rebecca Caudill Award for his moving free verse novel The Crossover. For this brilliantly conceived poetry collection he invited Chris Colderley and Marjory Wentworth to join him and create evocative poems that pay tribute to legendary poets such as Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Emily Dickinson, Chief Dan George, Pablo Neruda, among many others. All in a very kid-friendly manner! These poems, about a wide variety of topics, will perhaps inspire young poets to create their own verses and odes and haikus, and find original works by the esteemed legends. Ekua Holmes, who deservedly received much acclaim and accolades for her illustrations in Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hammer: The Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, fills the pages with brilliant collages that beautifully capture the spirit and feel of each poem. This is a case where everything falls into place: strong writing, vibrant art, and an approach that encourages further study. A must for National Poetry Month, but great all year round.
