*When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano

Short, free verse poems as journal entries over the course of a year capture the feel of changing seasons in this well-illustrated book for elementary school children.

*When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano.  Illustrated by Julie Morstad. Roaring Brook Press, 2016. 56 pages.

Reading Level: Poetry Picture Book, Ages 4-8

Recommended For: Ages 0-10, as a read aloud or independent read any time of the year!

If you want to be sure/ that you are nothing more than small/ stand at the edge of the ocean/ looking out  (August 3)

Beginning and ending in March with “Spring,” delightful free verse poems of varying lengths celebrate each season’s particular delights in turn. Framed as a child’s journal entries, poems alternately sound cheerful, glum, excited, or capture another emotion as the natural world is celebrated and explored. Weather, flowers, mud, sand, animals, the ocean and more inspire the poems while delightful illustrations set the scene. Illustrations have a slightly vintage feel to them and present a nicely diverse group of children experiencing each season.

Poetry books like this one make sharing poetry with children easy! Children will readily recognize themselves and a kindred childlike spirit in the pages of this book. It can be opened at any point and read, or read straight through like a traditional storybook. Recommended for read alouds with small groups of children or as an independent reading choice to strew around for quiet afternoons.

Cautions: Supernatural (one small picture of a child dressed as a witch)

Overall Rating: 4.75 (out of 5)

Worldview Rating: 4.5

Artistic Rating: 5

*indicates starred review