Neighbors: The Yard Critters Too

Held and Kim follow 2011’s Neighbors: The Yard Critters with 12 inquisitive animal poems. The verse steers clear of cutesiness, and sometimes strikes a prickly tone. Of the coyote, Held writes, “this brute’s cute/ but a trickster—/ shout, don’t be mute,/ if he threatens your sister,” while another poem compares a tick to “Typhoid Mary,/ infecting you with lyme/ disease, so be wary/ during play time.” Others achieve a sophisticated air: “The sparrow/ is narrow/ she perches/ on the rim/ of a barrow/ or flies/ through the air/ like an arrow/ she never falls/ to the earth/ without God’s sorrow.” Kim’s crisp, modern collages set sharply angled images in floral and newsprint patterns against ample white space, calling to mind the work of Charley Harper in this smart collaboration. Ages 3–11. (Jan.)