Forest Has a Song

Moving gracefully through the seasons, newcomer VanDerwater shares a girl’s experience of what the forest has to offer. On a chilly spring day, she “stop[s] to read/ the Forest News/ in mud or fallen snow./ Articles are printed/ by critters on the go” (Gourley shows the girl staring at a line of pale deer prints that lead to a distant grove). A slightly subversive sense of humor peeks through at times (a spider is “A never-tangling dangling spinner/ knitting angles, trapping dinner”), but the overall mood is serene, as when the girl dons her winterwear once more at year’s end: “I close my eyes/ to softly hear/ snowy voices/ crystal clear./ Each silver/ snowflake/ sings my name./ Guess what?/ No two sound the same.” Ages 6–9. (Apr.)