Push-Pull Morning: Dog-Powered Poems About Matter and Energy

Westberg’s scientific yet silly verse uses a dog’s antics to memorably illustrate physics concepts, identified in the table of contents as including energy, force, friction, gravity, inertia, and others. Beginning lines about matter set the tone, introducing the speaker’s new pup and the “zillions of wiggly molecules and/ jillions of jiggly atoms” that connect the pair. Later, the titular poem, which tackles the topic of force, chronicles the actions required to walk the pet to and from the vet’s (“I push open the clinic’s door./ My let’s-get-out-of-here dog pulls on her leash”). Literary techniques, including alliteration and assonance, work in service of the book’s topics, while shape poems visualize electricity. Bloch’s loose pen and ink art features a brown-skinned protagonist as well as a spotted canine that seems to be always on the go. Throughout this fun example of STEAM at work, the likable pair’s comic exploits showcase the way science concepts infuse the everyday. Back matter offers definitions. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)