A Maze Me

March 14, 2005
Nye's (Going Going
, reviewed above) sprawling collection of more than 70 poems run the gamut from capturing a moment to probing more abstract ideas—and many seem right for a wider audience than just females. The best poems take a detailed image and expose its wider application to daily life. For instance, in "Rose," a spider and her delicate web offer a lesson in the beauty that results from measured, persistent care. "Big Head, Big Face" boasts the merits of simplicity by contrasting a small drawer with a big drawer. Several poems on vocabulary grow awkwardly abstract. "The Word Peace
" takes a common school exercise (making many small words from the letters in one long word) and distorts the idea just enough to be confusing ("Peace
for example contained the crucial vowels of/ Eat
and Easy
. If people Ate
together/ they would be less likely to Kill
one another"). But there's plenty of humor here in contemplating language, too. Take the poem "You're Welcome!" ("People who say 'No problem'/ instead of 'You're welcome'/ have a problem they don't even/ know about") or a baby-sitter's claim that "Baby-sitting should not be called/ sitting. Because it is chasing, bending,/ picking up, and major play." Maher's attractive illustrations open each section. Despite a few uneven selections, Nye's talent is ever in evidence, especially with a trio of Wallace Stevens–style meditations on a "Little Chair" and lines such as this one in "Over the Weather": "Creamy miles of quiet/ Giant swoop of blue." Ages 12-up.

Starred review from January 1, 2005
Gr. 8-11. In the thoughtful, inspiring introduction to her latest collection of original poems, Nye encourages young readers to write three lines in a notebook every day: "You will find out what you notice. Uncanny connections will be made visible to you." The following poems draw from Nye's observations about nature, home, school, and neighborhood to make connections to a girl's inner world. The meaning in a few selections is oblique, particularly in spare lines that read like a zen koan. Most poems, though, speak with a powerful immediacy. When the speaker finds her mother's braid in an attic, there is the sharp, lonely realization that her parents will die: "I don't want to be / eighty years old / looking at the braid / all by myself." In other poems, she worries if a crush notices her, but there is a strong, contagious confidence in her voice: "Does he see me gleaming / in my chair?" In beautiful lines, the speaker's hopes extend to the wider world, and she wishes that, like tree frogs, humans had "something / we could / all sing / together, yes." A wide age range will respond to these deeply felt poems about everyday experiences that encourage readers to lean eagerly into their lives and delight in their passages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)

Starred review from March 1, 2005
Gr 4-7 -A lovely, rich collection that promises to be a lasting companion for young writers. In her introduction, Nye says: "If you write three lines down in a notebook every day -&you will find out what you notice. Uncanny connections will be made visible to you. That's what I started learning when I was twelve, and I never stopped learning it." The more than 70 poems (nearly every one previously unpublished) are all over the map in terms of subject, but all are in Nye's unique voice: keenly detailed, empathetic, and humorous. Many of the selections focus on feelings particular to girls. Others are universal, such as "High Hopes": "Now that I know the truth, /that I only dreamed someone liked me, /the cat has curled up in a bed of leaves/against the house and I still have to do/everything I had to do before/without a secret hum/ inside." The small format, with bright and pastel-colored, two-page illustrations that introduce the sections, is clearly directed toward girls. The decision to narrow the audience like this is curious. Most of the poems could be appreciated by a wider readership, but it will be the rare boy who would pick up this book. Too bad -it's a keeper." -Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2005
In this quiet, personal collection of more than seventy free-verse poems aimed especially at girls between twelve and seventeen, Nye captures the struggle of a young teen to connect with and understand her world. The small volume is attractively presented, with occasional small drawings on the poetry pages and colorful, girl-friendly double-page designs separating the sections. Ind.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2005
At twelve, anxious about the onset of adulthood, Naomi Shihab Nye began a lifelong habit of writing in notebooks; it helped her observe things and make connections. This quiet, personal collection of more than seventy free-verse poems, aimed especially at girls between twelve and seventeen, demonstrates that she hasn't forgotten those years at all. From internal questions to careful observation of the people and the landscape around her, from secret love and loss to concerns about war and peace, Nye captures the struggle of a young teen to connect with and understand her world. It is the particulars that set her poetry apart and will appeal to her readers: "never again to fit / the turquoise Mexican chair / with flowers painted on it / hurt." In school, looking at the hair of the girl in front of her, "Inventing new methods for parting / on a blue-lined page, I make / math go away." She thinks about the owner of the taco shop and wonders about the past residents of an abandoned home in Big Bend National Park. All but four of the poems in this collection are new. The small volume is comfortable in the hand and attractively presented, with occasional small drawings on the poetry pages and colorful, girl-friendly double-page designs separating the sections. This is a gift for readers of any age who will recognize the truth of Nye's self-description: "My mind / is always / open. / I don't think / there's even / a door."

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)