Canyon
Reviewed: January 17, 2003
By: Text by Eileen Cameron
Photography by Michael Collier
Publisher: Mikaya Press
32 pages, $24.95
We don’t tend to think of geology and poetry in the same breath, but Canyon is a book which might make us
change our minds.
Canyon is a children’s book created to dramatize the action of water in the creation of these impressive natural
formations. The thirteen photographs were taken along the Colorado River and
its feeder streams in the vicinity of the world famous Grand Canyon.
Cameron’s contribution is a simple, yet powerful, 38 line poem, printed on the pages
facing the photograph, beginning with the words
Water
falls softly
In
cold snow crystals
Onto
the Mountaintop ...
It’s
an effective poem with lots of dramatic imagery. The combination of words and
pictures is very effective. How effective it will be with children is the part
I’m not sure about. Kids usually seem to like a story and a few characters. I’m
not sure how they will react to photographs of water carving rocks with nary a
person nor an animal in sight.
It’s
a lovely book, but it may be aimed at the wrong audience.
Print Preview
|