![]() On the two pages depicting “How to Write a Poem: Celebrating Naomi Shihab Nye,” two young people playfully dance with scraps of paper, from yellow-legal-pad sheets to gauzy homemade strips, as the verse describes writers metaphorically releasing their own poetic voice to dance. I love how Holmes manifests each inspirational poet’s cadence, rhythm, and thematic focus in her creative choices. And the starburst pattern, a signature element in Voice of Freedom, makes a return appearance in several images. While her media remains the same - collage made of homemade and boldly patterned papers with a dash of paint carefully thrown in - each illustration is as much an homage to the poet of inspiration as to the new verses that are on the page. ![]() ![]() Holmes brings the vibrancy of her layered, richly tactile collage to each poem, presented on double- or single-page spreads. They have taken for their inspiration the forms, themes, and rhythms of a slew of well-known poets, both ancient and living, and have created new verse inspired by their works. ![]() ![]() And aren’t we glad she did! Out of Wonder is the pairing of this extraordinary artist with poets Kwame Alexander, Chris Colderley, and Marjory Wentworth. She was an established fine artist in Boston before she delved into the children’s book world. Ekua Holmes burst on the children’s book scene in 2015 with her phenomenal debut, the multiple award–winning - including a Caldecott Honor - Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement (written by Carole Boston Weatherford). ![]()
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