Days to Celebrate: A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More

Lee Bennett Hopkins gathers poems and milestone facts for every occasion in Days to Celebrate: A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More, illus. by Stephen Alcorn. From Martin Luther King, Jr.'s brief biography, coupled with Nikki Grimes's poem, ""A Question for Martin"" in January, to a description of the little-known ""Night of the Radishes"" on December 23 (the tradition of carving sculptures from radishes in Oaxaca, Mexico), inspirationally paired with Karla Kuskin's ""Write about a radish./ Too many people write about the moon...,"" Hopkins presents an array of versatile verse, both classic and contemporary. Christina Rosetti, Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes and Hopkins himself number among the other contributors. Alcorn's full-spread and spot illustrations with their fine ink line and watercolor wash, fluidly tie together poems old and new, airy and weighty. .