The Earth is Painted Green: A Garden of Poems about Our Planet

This ``garden'' of verse yields a bouquet of delights. Schindler ( Great-aunt Ida and Her Great Dane, Doc ), noted for his quirky depictions of animals and people, outdoes himself with his attentive renderings of insects and plants. Tulips and gingko leaves, poppies and pine trees, wintry maples and spring violets blossom in exquisite watercolors. Brenner groups her selections in eight parts--from ``Earth Green'' (poems about the ``magic and power of Earth's green things'') to ``Forever Green'' (poems about the ``perils to our environment'')--each with a short introduction. Poems vary in tone and topics from a haunting Paiute chant about the coming of spring to Roy Blount Jr.'s two-line joke about broccoli (which the grocer is out of, ``Loccoli''). In addition to easily anticipated choices from such poets as Eve Merriam, Jack Prelutsky, Myra Cohn Livingston and X. J. Kennedy, Brenner includes a host of newcomers, a work translated from the Serbo-Croatian and little-anthologized treasures from Carl Sandburg, Vachel Lindsay and Ted Hughes. Both editor and illustrator help the reader ``enter in / To the small silences between / The leaves'' and discover in the poetry of many cultures the ``beautiful and generous green Earth.'' All ages. (Mar.)