Winterberries and Apple Blossoms: Reflections and Flavors of a Mennonite Year

Naomi, a fictional Mennonite girl, shares the sights, sounds, and seasonal customs of her rural community in 12 evocative poems, one for each month of the year. Simple pleasures and daily responsibilities are at the forefront: maple-sugaring (“I close my eyes/ and breathe in/ the woodburning-mapley-sweet air,/ tasting spring through my nose”), bicycle rides, friendly baseball games, and selling the harvest’s bounty (“I lay the vegetables out in rows,/ forming a tabletop garden,/ then tighten my kerchief beneath my chin/ and wait”). Snyder, a painter making his children’s book debut, contributes smudgy, sunlit acrylic scenes that convey a close-knit family that works, plays, and prays together. Along with Forler’s graceful verse, and recipes for every season, it all adds up to a warm portrait of a community seldom found in the spotlight. All ages. (Oct.)