Dreamplace

As in their previous collaboration Who Came Down That Road? , Lyon and Catalanotto here offer an atmospheric, shimmering glance backwards--this time at the Anasazi pueblos at Mesa Verde. Although Lyon's poem is told from the point of view and in the tone of a reflective adult, Catalanotto wisely focuses the story through his luminous paintings on the experiences of a girl who visits the canyon as a tourist. She imagines--as if she were dreaming, seeing through the scrim of historical time--the Pueblo people who 800 years before ``plaited sandals, wove baskets / coiled clay into pots.'' Then, ``one day / when even trees were hungry / they turned their backs'' on their cliff dwellings ``leaving us / far in the future'' standing ``amazed / at the people / who built this dream / who lit its walls / with fire and stories.'' In both style and content, the lyrical text may be a bit sophisticated for young readers, but Catalanotto's extraordinary watercolors clarify this journey through time. Ages 4-7. (Mar. )