From: Lynn Hoffman <Lhoffman>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 16:56:25 +0000

We've talked some about Rylant's poetry, and the point has been made that much of her work -- prose, poems or otherwise -- is decidedly poetic. This is again the case in Tulip Sees America, which I was pleased to have just looked at. Her spare description of Iowa farm country brought the smell of just plowed fields back to this former resident: in less than 40 words she hit the nail on the head. This economy of language is, I think, the very thing that makes her writing accessible to as varied an audience as it does. There is a single right combination of words that works, that conveys an action, a picture, a concept. Anything more would get foggy, and the pure, clean feeling (of friendship, home, search for self -- all the insightful themes kids themselves are able to name) would fade from sight. Regardless of the format, or the Dewey classification, this clarity is what poetry is all about.


Lynn Hoffman Allen County Public Library lhoffman at acpl.lib.in.us 900 Webster St., P.O. Box 2270 Children's Services Fort Wayne, IN 46801 Assistant Manager (219) 42120
Received on Wed 22 Jul 1998 11:56:25 AM CDT