A Boy for All Seasons: Guyku: A Year of Poetry for Boys by Bob Raczka

IN A RUSHING STREAM,

WE TURN ROCKS INTO A DAM.

HOURS FLOW BY US.

What is it like to be a kid with the whole outdoors there just for us? Bob Raczka's and Peter Reynolds' up-coming GUYKU: A Year of Haiku for Boys (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) reminds us, in case we have forgotten, what childhood should be--a chance to find ourselves in the world beyond ourselves.

Raczka's haikus are alternately whimsical...

IF THIS PUDDLE COULD

TALK, I THINK IT WOULD TELL ME

TO SPLASH MY SISTER.

and lyrical...

WITH THE EMBER END

OF MY LONG MARSHMALLOW STICK

I WRITE ON THE DARK.

Although in its classical Japanese form, the haiku stresses quiet contemplation of nature, the punchy, seventeen-syllable format lends itself perfectly for action-oriented boys (and girls), making the haiku a popular teaching tool for elementary language arts. In the hands of the skilled writer and illustrator here, the spirit of the haiku is perfectly captured for the young reader. The book is designed to follow the four seasons, with poems fitting each season and each season given its iconic color--green for spring, blue for summer, brown for fall, and white for winter. Three boys are featured, in combination and individually, doing those things boys do--flying kites, throwing snowballs at trees, dueling with icicles, catching grasshoppers, and skipping stones over the water. The words and pictures show simple, everyday things, but in the spirit of the classical haiku, make the reader stop, immersed in the moment, and glory in it.

HEY, WHO TURNED OFF ALL

THE CRICKETS? I'M NOT READY

FOR SUMMER TO END.

Author Raczka and illustrator Reynolds have created a keeper here, a little poetry book that should be on every library, classroom, and poetry shelf. See also Andrew Clements' story, cleverly narrated in haiku, Dogku, reviewed here.