Demi's Secret Garden; Poems

An opulent novelty book, this collection of poems about insects will delight Demi fans with its gilded illustrations and ornate designs that virtually burst the confines of the page. As if there were not room enough on a single spread for the span of a mayfly's gossamer wings, five separate spreads fold out for a three- or four-page expanse. The flowers in Demi's ``secret garden'' are contained in the fanciful designs that adorn the bodies of the insects; each is magnified against a solid pastel background and outlined anatomically in fine black ink, but interior spaces fairly shimmer with collages of gold-embellished patterned papers, watercolor fantasies and filigreed forms. The spectacular birdwing butterfly, for example, stretches across four pages with its William Morris-like flowered black wings. The 20 verses--more easily accessible to adults than to children--include snippets from Whitman, Keats, Shelley, Blake and Shakespeare; Japanese and Chinese poets; and the Bible. An afterword supplies interesting facts about each of the insects represented. Ages 4-7. (May)