Just in time for Valentine's Day, Calef Brown presents 18 clever odes to twosomes both romantic and platonic.
Each poem in this hand-size volume appears opposite a full-page, full-color illustration, making this highly suitable for gift giving. Many of Brown's choices offer pleasing surprises. Rather than a bicycle built for two, he pictures a crocodile pedaling his date on the handlebars of a bicycle built for one. The contents of the picnic basket, which the scaly gent balances on his lap, appears on the opposite page, beneath the poem. "We Go Together" honors two guys walking in step down a sidewalk ("Genuine chums./ Loyal amigos/ with infinite sums/ of friendship, affection/ and pure camaraderie./ We won the buddy lottery"), while two girls leap into the air, bumping hips as "Mirth Makers" ("Oh, the mirth we make!/ Every day of life/ is like a birthday cake"). A poem about "FBF" (Forever Best Friends) acknowledges their history together, including their "greenish phase," performing at weddings as "Emerald 'n' Jade."
Children will find humor in Brown's unusual turns of phrase and unlikely comparisons: "You to me/ are like an adorable doorbell," begins a poem about how a beloved's call brings him running; and he uses a kiwi to send up the classic form of a love poem: "I am, quite frequently,/ reminded by thee/ of a kiwi./ Either kind. You have thin skin,/ or rather, rind,/ but mostly I find/ that you're frightfully sweet."
This funny, often touching volume probes the many ways in which two people connect. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness