Lion of the Sky: Haiku for All Seasons

Organized in four sections beginning with spring, Salas’s lovely haiku are written in the voices of animals and organic or inanimate objects related to the seasons. “Fire in our bellies,/ we FLICKER-FLASH in twilight—/ rich meadow of stars,” speak the summer’s fireflies. Each haiku contains a riddle element—readers must guess the narrator (in an author’s note, Salas refers to the form as a “riddle-ku”). It’s not always clear who, or what, is speaking, but López’s evocative acrylics visually communicate the imagery within the poems. “I’m a WRIGGLING tube,/ soft underground tunneler—/ I fear early birds,” one announces. The small bird hovering over a hole clues readers in to the speaker’s identity: a worm. The book’s meditative tone and resonant images invite readers to embrace new ways of seeing the world around them. Ages 5–9. (Apr.)