On the Road of Stars: Native American Night Poems and Sleep Charms

As quiet as the wind ``sweetly . . . rushing through the trees'' and as soft as the song of the stars that ``sing on the road of spirits,'' this remarkable collection will soothe and comfort young readers. The 50-plus poems are rooted in the worldviews of the 22 tribes from whose traditions they come. Tied to the rhythms of nature, respectful of the nuances of change, reverent toward the life they celebrate, the verses tell about creatures of the night--nighthawk, red fox, owl, black bats--about the ``first father'' who ``grew from within the / original darkness'' and about the moon woman who is part of ``the expanse of the divine sea.'' As Bierhorst comments in a prefatory note, the poems portray the night as ``a time for healing, a time when plants grow, and a time for creative awakening''; his selections are varied and beautifully sequenced. Pedersen ( Out in the Country ; The Yellow Button ) incorporates some Native American motifs in mixed media illustrations, but the results are sometimes stilted and do not consistently express the power and spirit of the evocative poems here. Ages 6-up. (Apr.)