Why War Is Never a Good Idea
"Though War is Old / It has not / Become wise," Walker writes in&#xA0;this spare, eloquent poem. Naive-style&#xA0;paintings in neon-bright colors celebrate&#xA0;forest diversity&#xA0;and&#xA0;urban communities&#xA0;across the globe. Then each community, in turn, is destroyed by war, its glowing warmth&#xA0;disappearing beneath clouds of smoke and ash. On the first page, a smiling frog and a beautiful pink flower bask in a pond; on the opposite page, "Huge tires / Of a / Camouflaged / Vehicle are /About to / Squash / Them flat."&#xA0;Then the destruction intensifies: something drops from the sky on a Latino boy dreaming on a haystack. Images of eyes greedy for oil give way to a stark picture of mothers and babies&#xA0;buried beneath swirling,&#xA0;tactile streams of waste.&#xA0;The communities are always idyllic, with no&#xA0;hint of poverty or struggle, but&#xA0;the&#xA0;activist message&#xA0;and&#xA0;sometimes frightening images will&#xA0;compel children to talk about what they feel and see. Add this to "Core Collection: Peace Not War," in&#xA0;Booklist,&#xA0;November 1, 2006. Rochman, Hazel