cover image Hiawatha

Hiawatha

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Philomel Books, $12.95 (12pp) ISBN 978-0-399-21456-1

The creator of this pop-up version of the classic epic poem should be commended for a well-intentioned effort, but the result is only somewhat palatableneither the paper engineering nor the realistic watercolor pictures can stand up to Longfellow's shimmering language. While a picture book version could have made the poem more accessible, this has only six spreads because of the production limitations. The pop-ups do not illuminate the poem for young readers, and older children may shy away from the format. All ages. (April)