Knee-Deep in Blazing Snow - Hardcover

Hayford, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1590783387 ISBN 13: 9781590783382

Publisher: Wordsong, 2005

Synopsis

The poems in this collection were chosen for their appeal to young people, and sorted into the four seasons, so readers can get a taste of growing up in New England year-round. James Hayford's poems include a Vermont way of talking--no wasted words. His language is whittled into poems satisfying to read aloud and surprising in their power to reveal truth. The collection is steeped in New England but speaks to readers everywhere. Michael McCurdy's stunning engravings and woodcuts add to the poems, amplifying the drama of New England seasons and the beauty of rural life.

About this title

About the Author:

James Hayford (1913-1993) lived in Vermont most of his life. He studied with the famous poet Robert Frost at Amherst College, and after promising Frost to devote himself to writing poetry, Hayford had many different jobs, but he always kept writing.

Michael McCurdy is widely recognized for his work in woodcut and scratchboard, began his career as a book artist in 1963. Currently, 177 books contain his art. He and his wife, Deborah, now live in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. They have two grown children.

X.J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy have collaborated on two best-selling anthologies for children. X.J. Kennedy is the author of fourteen children's books, and Dorothy M. Kennedy is the author of two poetry anthologies for children. The Kennedys live in Lexington, Massachusetts.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4-7. In this collection "you'll hear that Vermont way of talking--with no wasted words," write X. J. Kennedy and Dorothy Kennedy in the introduction to their selection of Hayford's poems. Divided into sections based on the seasons, the spare, direct poetry reflects rural life with humor: "You talk about imagination--think. / A creature armed with nothing but a stink / Propelled to make aggressors stop and blink," begins the "The Skunk." Many lines evoke flashes of old-fashioned country life--jumping into hay, gathering maple sap for syrup--and McCurdy's small, black-and-white scratchboards and wood engravings extend the nostalgic mood in scenes of a rural train depot and ox-driven sleighs. But it's the quiet observations about the natural world that are perhaps most powerful: the "molten light" of midsummer evenings; "an afternoon turned hushed and black" by an oncoming storm. Teachers will want to share these accomplished selections in poetry units; suggest this also to readers of the Little House books, who may enjoy the glimpses of long-ago rural life. Gillian Engberg
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About this edition

• Publisher: Wordsong
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1590783387
• ISBN 13: 9781590783382
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64
• Illustrator: McCurdy Michael