Time for Haiku: Four Seasons of Poems

Santaeulàlia’s expressive haikus and Lozano’s spare calligraphic illustrations meditate upon small moments that mark seasonal change in this quiet work based around noticing. From autumn to summer, several dozen poems offer an experiential tour through incremental adjustments that suggest time’s passage. In autumn, “I open, unsure,/ the drawer that’s full of socks./ End of September.” Winter “snows in silence,” spring brings “a cloud in the mud,” and in summer, “the ocean unfurls its skirts/ of blossoming waves.” Loosely painted illustrations filled with telling details (raindrops on a spider’s web, a puff of white breath) undertake their own delicate narratives by playing with perspective and shadow. Back matter introduces haiku, highlighting its unique qualities and suggesting, that, like the book itself, “haiku are like photographs made of words: poems that capture a single, vivid moment.” Characters’ skin tones reflect the white of the page. Ages 5–8. (Mar.)