Myra here.
I am glad to be joining the Poetry Friday community once again this week, hosted by poet-teacher-blogger Heidi Mordhorst of My Juicy Little Universe.
We are concluding our current reading theme today on the best of the best in 2016 books. So I thought it would be fitting to conclude with this gorgeous book of patience, quiet, and waiting.
When Green Becomes Tomatoes
Poems by: Julie Fogliano Illustrated by: Julie Morstad
Published by: A Neal Porter Book, 2016
ISBN: 0385753977 (ISBN13: 9780385753975). Literary Award: Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Picture Books (2016). Borrowed a copy from the Jurong West Public Library. Book Photos taken by me.
One of my favourite poetry books of all time is Red Sings From Treetops: A Year In Colors by Joyce Sidman and Pamela Zagarenski, winner of the 2009 Poetry Category in Cybils. So it was with a measure of trepidation but still with a great deal of excitement that I borrowed this book from the library. I was taken with Fogliano and Morstad’s collaboration in and then it’s spring and if you want to see a whale so I was pretty excited about this book.
The book reads more like a poetic diary written throughout the year, especially since each poem is marked by specific dates rather than an actual title. I also found a few poems sounding remarkably like e. e. cummings, except that they are more accessible and less esoteric.
It inspired me, actually, to capture in a few lines or so, how the weather on a singular day has made me feel: with the squelching mud, or the bleak gray, and the quiet white – making me think of this as a perfect mentor text. There is also such a complement between verse and image that I feel Fogliano and Morstad have successfully perfected the seamlessness of their creative energies that one is hard put to figure out where one begins and the other ends.
While I enjoyed reading aloud all the poems, there are two that stood out for me, which I would like to share with you, Poetry Friday friends. Here they are:
There is something about lost things that appeal to me, and glowing love, and whispered thanks in the boundaries of drifting and dreaming.
And here is another one:
There is a recurrent theme of waiting, patience, and quiet that Julie Morstad and Julie Fogliano fully capture in all of their published collaborations. The quiet anticipating hum of something to come. Read this book and be filled with that sense of the world moving and arriving at your doorstep.
Gathering Books 
I always adore Julie Morstad’s illustrations, she has such an elegant and distinctive style.
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What a beautiful book, Myra. Thanks for sharing.
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I bought it immediately and knew I would love it just as you’ve written, with the close collaboration of words and pictures. It’s just right, isn’t it? Nice to read what you think, Myra!
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Definitely one of my 2016 favorites! You capture those dreamy and patient qualities well in this blog post, Myra.
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Love this book — definitely one of my favorites from last year. I agree with you about Red Sings from Treetops, too. Both are such lyrical gems.
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The other thing I love about this book (besides the poetry!!) is the incidental diversity in the illustrations!
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Hi Myra, thanks for sharing this rich poetry book filled with lovely art, I’ve been wanting to look it over myself!
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What a beautiful collection, Myra – another book suggested by you that I am yearning to read!
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Thank you, Myra–I keep seeing this book and snippets of it and wondering why I’ve not managed to get my hands on it yet! Yes, what a light touch, what a gentle patience these poems have, with something also arriving in each one. Thanks for joining today!
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This sounds lovely. I am writing the title and author/illustrator to order from the library. Thanks for a heartfelt review!
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