Driftwood Days

“Under autumn leaves,/ a boy is watching a/ beaver build its lodge.” A branch breaks free, and Miniver and Vess trace its journey as it weathers a winter in the river (“the branch sleeps in its cold bed—/ a black arrow aimed at the sea”) and makes its way to the ocean in spring, only to wash up where “a boy walks along the shore,/ looking for beach-things.” The branch, driftwood now, has become a summer treasure—“hard and smooth and beautiful,/ like the inside of a seashell.” Dragged through the sand, then carried home by the brown-skinned boy as a souvenir, the branch ends its travels, its return to the boy’s world gently evoking the cyclical cadence of nature. The hazy texture and precise detail of Vess’s colored pencil and ink illustrations, which utilize panels to underline the bough’s movements, pair beautifully with Minever’s dreamy, poetic prose. An author’s note explains the ecological importance of driftwood. Ages 4–7. [em](Oct.) [/em]