The Story Goes On by Aileen Fisher

This is a beautiful and charming poetry picture book. The text was easy and fun to read. The story takes a reader through the life cyle--starting with a seed on the title page. The seed continues to leaf-bug-frog-snake-hawk-farmer-fox-crowes-sextons-and back to the soil. There is an interesting progression through this life cycle that is beautifully portrayed by the text rhymes and illustrations. The text would be easy for beginning poetry readers to read and understand. The sing-song quality would lend itself well to choral reading.

I loved the illustrations--by Mique Moriuchi, who is from Japan and lives in England. I think these living experiences molded well to create an illustrating style that is pleasing to the eye and multi-layored. There is a child-like quality to the illustrations and a lot to look at. I noticed that images were painted on newspaper and then cut out into a collage format. The colors were fresh and alive (green was the major color used). Almost every page had green as a main color except the one page totally void of green--the hunter shooting the hawk. I liked the format of text dancing around the page, often helping create the illustrations through positioning and colors (as rain drops and rays of sun).

I think kids would like reading about this content area subject in a poem format more than a simple textbook paragraph. This style of presenting the information is pleasing and informative. I would definitely use this book for a unit on life cycles--it can reach a variety of learners through the poetry, illustrations, and simple storyline.