A Paper Zoo

A Paper Zoo
selected by Renée Karol Weiss with pictures by Ellen Raskin/ published 1968 by Macmillan Publishing Co.

Always one to love the animal books, my son has attached himself to this read. Bought at a local library sale here in the great state of Virginia, I am so all about new places and the places to find books in those new places. Let's call them "virgin locations" that haven't yet been plundered by treasure seekers like me. Love it!

I have recently been feeling like I don't have enough poetry in my life anymore, so finding this tome couldn't have been better timed. Subtitled: a Collection of Animal Poems by Modern American Poets, it is a well-selected mix that covers all the heros... e.e. cummings ~ T.S. Eliot ~ Robert Frost ~ Wallace Stevens ~ William Carlos Williams. Such a great introduction for kids to some of the masters. One fave... a quirky ode to The Sloth by Theodore Roethke.

In moving-slow he has no Peer,
You ask him something in his Ear;
He thinks about it for a Year;

And, then, before he says a Word
There, upside down (unlike a Bird),
He will assume that you have Heard --

A most Ex-as-per-at-ing Lug.
But should you call his manner Smug,
He'll sign and give his Branch a Hug;

Then off again to Sleep he goes,
Still swaying gently by his Toes,
And you just know he knows he knows.

I love the modern design of the drawings ~ all swirly three-tone in orange, lime green and white. Very groovy.