cover image Somewhere

Somewhere

Jane Baskwill. Mondo Publishing, $13.95 (24pp) ISBN 978-1-57255-131-2

""Somewhere in the raindrop,/ A rainbow forms from light;/ Somewhere in the darkness,/ A star lights up the night."" Each stanza of Baskwill's poem visits one of nature's niches and highlights a typical aspect. Some verses intrigue (""Somewhere in the ocean,/ A whale echoes a sound""); many are banal (a leaf falls ""somewhere in the forest""). Couched in smooth rhymes and a consistent cadence, this exploration coasts from phenomenon to phenomenon without building momentum or giving the reader much cause for contemplation. Hill's (What Makes a Bird a Bird?) chalk and scratchboard illustrations use varying perspectives to encourage readers to study nature's details, but depart from realism with their overbright exposures and cotton-candy-colored accents. For all the emphasis on the ""wonder"" and ""delight"" of nature, the book transmits no sense of discovery. Ages 4-7. (Apr.)