I picked ‘’Ivy in Bloom: The Poetry of Spring from Great Poets and Writers of the Past’’ because of the marvelous cover that speaks of spring, the idea of introducing children to poetry (which is a big love of mine!), and the topic of the changing seasons, which is rarely explored in children’s literature (yet it is part of their life too).

I must say this book didn’t disappoint me. At all. It is a fun take on poetry for children what with an introduction by Ivy, the main character, and writings from great poets and authors. The poems rhyme, which make it all the more amusing, and they’re easy to understand. The pictures help clarify the meaning if there is some confusion. It tells a story many children live through as they wait for winter to end and spring to arrive so they can play outside and have some real fun. This book achieves it by combining sweet poems with pictures, which are pleasant to look at and cute. The emotions are portrayed by Ivy are easy to identify thanks to the pictures. As for the mood and setting, they are well conveyed.

Even though one of its two main topics is the weariness of winter, the book is quite colorful and filled with beautiful images. One can clearly see Ivy is bored, but without becoming as such ourselves thanks to the entertainment the colors and poems provide us! Moreover, Ivy is a likeable everyday girl who goes from bored to hopeful to happy. I think she is realistic and we can’t help but wish spring to arrive soon too!
I really love how the author credited the great poets and authors at the end of the book by including a short biography of each one and the works from which the lines (in green) were used. I find it highly respectful. Plus, the fact that they described the illustrator’s process in the biographies is interesting. The book is short, yet it delivers its content well.

Although, there’s only one thing I wasn’t comfortable with: one line of poetry talks of God. I know the author probably wanted to convey how everything is going well, so they mentioned God and Heaven. While I think it’s okay for people to believe in God, I am not sure it belongs in children’s literature the way it was presented as we are all different and not all religions believe in a single God. The author could have chosen a better line of poetry to express this.

Besides that, the read of ‘’Ivy in Bloom’’ was entertaining and I consider this book an inventive way to introduce children to poetry and help them expand their knowledge! It is also a lovely addition for those who already love it at a young age (I’m sure I would have dived right in was I still a child!). I decide to give it a 5/5 and I greatly recommend it.

This is a lovely little children's poetry book telling the story of a little girl named Ivy and her excitement about spring. The book features excerpts of poetry from the greats Longfellow, Cummings, Dickens, Frost and Whitman to form a narrative poem. What really stood out for me was the illustrations. They were simplistic but very detailed and the book reminded me of many graphic novels I love. This will definitely be a good addition to any child's poetry collection and a fantastic introduction to some of the most famous poets in English literature.

*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.*

Read this short and beautiful illustrated poetry book meant for kids. The book talks about a little girl who is weary of the Winter and is awaiting the spring. The illustrations are pleasant with a beautiful way of expressing the feelings and the weather of the place. However , the poetry was a tad disappointing . Some of the lines lacked connection , and where just scattered along with the illustrations. Somehow the poetry was more relatable to the art it came with , than with the other lines in the book.
Overall : A beautiful book to look at , but just an average one when it comes to the poetry.

2.5 Stars. I feel like this was a wonderful idea- the book takes phrases and lines from wonderful poets and assembles them together to form a new cohesive poem about Spring. It's a really great way for kids to get into poetry. The proceeds of this book are also going to numerous charities which makes the book even better in my eyes.

I loved the illustrations, they were colourful and cute. They really brought the book up in my opinion. As for the actual poem itself, I thought it could have been better. I felt like some of it flowed very well while other bits of it were sort of choppy and felt discombobulated to me.

I'm rounding this up to 3 stars because of the illustrations, the idea, the fact that the proceeds go to charity and because I feel like kids will like it. I would recommend this to people who plan on reading it to children and I would read more by Vanita Oelschlager & Kristin Blackwood.

* I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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It didn't flow well but an interesting premise with beautiful illustrations.

Beautiful book with amazing illustrations. I loved Ivy. Super!

This book is cool. I like how various poets are brought together to tell this story. The illustrations are gorgeous.

I love love love this book! It's so simple and yet profound at the same time: Introduce children to great poetry and great writers through Ivy's thoughts. Ivy is a little girl deep in the throes of winter blues, longing plaintively for spring. The sepia-like illustrations through this part of the book bring the children along and draw the same longing from their thoughts, even though Ivy is doing fun winter things like sledding and throwing snowballs. Finally, a glimpse of something green growing! With each passing page, more color bursts forth and Ivy's smile gets wider and wider.

The text of the book is taken from individual lines from various poems but doesn't clutter the text of the book (meant for younger children) with the long, perhaps difficult passages from which these lines are taken. Bonus: there is an illustrated bibliography at the end, with the various borrowed texts highlighted in green presented along with a thumbnail of the page on which the text appears. This enables the child to either read the book independently and enjoy it fully as well as enabling a parent or teacher to introduce the child to greater works. I love this method!

I gratefully received this book as an eARC from the authors, publisher, and NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

I find this poetry book absolutely wonderful and delightful. Such a brilliant way to introduce poetry to a young audience preferably Children. I certainly could read this to my children over and over. The fact that original poems are combined with those of well-known poets makes it all the more exciting to read. Poetry is a great way to reflect your inner emotions including your thoughts and feelings. By children reading this they can also learn and gain examples of poetry and how they could very well indeed write their own masterpieces.
As a parent, I one hundred percent believe that Children of all ages need a way to vent, a creative way to get their thoughts and feelings off of their chest and a platform to share it with the world. We need to encourage our kids to read more literature, to be more in touch with themselves and to understand that it's a positive thing to be able to talk about important matters or serious issues affecting them.
Poetry enables the author/poet to openly communicate with the community and I find that when I read the poetry of other people, I can oftentimes connect and relate as at some point in my life I have been in the same similar situations, experienced similar emotions or had similar thoughts on matters, thoughts that I completely understand and get.
I would recommend this children's poetry book to my friends, family and their children. I certainly give this a 10/10. A wonderful book by a gifted author.

Ivy in Bloom is about Ivy (obviously), a little girl waiting for spring. I LOVE the art work( IVY is so cute!) I love classical poetry so this was a HUGE hit for me!

What a clever and gorgeous way to use old poetry to create new poetry. Absolutely loved it! And the illustrations were absolutely gorgeous!

When wandering through NetGalley I stumbled upon a quite cute looking little book. Upon getting it I was immediately keen on reading it. As I put aside the book I was previously reading and opened Ivy in Bloom, I entered into an another world. I immensely enjoy poetry, but my preferences are very narrow, I am very hard to please. So to honest I did not think I would love or even like Ivy in Bloom.
I was wrong.

Ivy in Bloom: The Poetry of Spring from Great Poets and Writers from the Past created by Vanita Oelschlager is a great way of introducing classical poetry to children since it features lines from many poems by some of the greatest writers throughout history, such as E. E. Cummings, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Charles Dickens and many more.

But that is not all this charming book offers - pages are covered in lovely illustrations by Kristin Blackwood. They tell a story of a young girl enjoying the winter and in the end spring. The poetry and the illustrations show us very vividly her emotions and make this book even more enjoyable.

First off on a positive note, I loved the artwork! It reminded me of me as a young girl. The pictures of the little girl sledding down the mountain and skipping in the rain were well done and evocative and sweet.

However, the same can not be said for the poem. At first, it was the rapid style change that threw me. I thought this was supposed to be read as a continuous poem, but dribs and drabs of poems.

Then there is the issue of different springtime works from famous poets. Either give me all original work or all works of famous poems, but the whole concept of taking pieces of famous poems and inserting them was disconcerting to me and hard to follow. I would not want to read this to ny child because I'd feel compelled to explain who wrote what piece. Also, some of the excerpts contained words that the target audience would not understand.

All in all, not a favorite. I'd like to see more of the author's own thoughts on spring and less excerpts.