This book includes a half dozen poems for each of the four seasons, Summer through Spring. First the illustrated text, with the plain text on the following page—which made it simple to consider how Peters interpreted the text. Most of the poems are not merely illustrated but interpreted or expanded, particularly by visually juxtaposing the time period the poem was written with the modern world.

The variety of art styles was fascinating, to fit each poem. I also enjoyed the way Peters could draw a full-page image that included multiple elements of the poem, using the text boxes to guide the eye through each element. Overall, I enjoyed this book more than the first one (Poems to See By, 2020). All poem selections were wins.

Thank you Plough Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this book. This volume includes a great variety of poems visually represented in an interesting way. It is a wonderful way to introduce poetry to reluctant readers. The book follows seasons of the year and is appropriate for middle school through college students. I enjoyed seeing the visual choices the author made and which aspects of which poems he chose to visually highlight. Overall, a great volume.

5★
"The best laid schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!" Robert Burns

How often have I heard this quoted, misquoted, or at least referred to? It's such handy shorthand to say "Ah… the best laid plans…" when commiserating over an unexpected loss. This is from "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, November, 1785".

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration from the poem.]

The artist has illustrated each of the eight stanzas with charming, old-fashioned drawings of the apologetic farmer and the rightly miffed Mrs Mouse, in an apron and bonnet. But he consoles himself by saying the mouse is lucky compared to him, because she knows only about the present and not the past or future.

"Still thou art blest, compar'd wi' me
The present only toucheth thee:
But, Och! I backward cast my e'e.
On prospects drear!
An' forward, tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!"

The illustrations tell the story, so that even children will get the gist of it, and older kids might figure out some of the words. It's perfect for a group or class discussion. The mouse is a fully-clothed lady, spinning by her little fire when a plough blade begins to poke through her wall.

The book is divided into the four season, with six poems for each, all very different with different styles of illustration. Poets are American, English, Scottish, Welsh, Chinese, and Japanese. Espaillat is Dominican-American.

"To a Mouse" is part of "AUTUMN".

The seasons begin with "SUMMER", and I've chosen the poem "Truth" by Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize. Although the poem was written around 1949, and may refer to general fear of the unknown, and 'be careful what you wish for', the artist has chosen to use powerful cartoon art to show how we regard climate change.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration from the poem.]
"Sweet is it, sweet is it
To sleep in the coolness
Of snug unawareness.

The dark hangs heavily
Over the eyes" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Then "AUTUMN" (above) and "WINTER", from which I chose a couple of classics.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration from the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening".]
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."Robert Frost

Moving from snow to fog. This is a handy one for those who would like to be able to quote but have trouble memorising.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration from the poem.]
" The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on." by Carl Sandburg

Next a couple from "SPRING"

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration from the poem "i thank You God for most this amazing"]
"i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes" by e.e. cummings

I was delighted by the bright, cheery cartoon illustrations of the mood evoked by William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." These were not the whimsical images I was expecting for Wordsworth, but they may be closer to how excited he was by what he was imagining.

[My Goodreads review includes an illustration from the poem.]
"When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of golden daffodils."

I love books like these, where both your eyes and mind can wander, enjoying the words, the illustrator's interpretation, and then your own interpretation. These may not all be to everyone's taste (what is?), but they are each unique.

Most authors are American or English, with one Scottish, one Welsh, one Chinese, and three Japanese who each wrote a haiku about the moon.

There is a good bibliography at the end, but I wanted more, of course. I found myself googling and looking for biographical material, dates of the poems, and the context in which they may have been written.

Knowing nothing about Gwendolyn Brooks, for example, I thought "Truth" seemed to be about Climate Change. But later, I went down a few rabbit holes and found it was written before 1949, so I was wrong – it was obviously a broader message. However, like all good poetry, its universal nature makes it just as relevant today.

This would be an excellent book club choice, and it's an obvious teaching prompt or tool for classrooms of various ages. It's a companion to the author's previous book, Poems to See by: A Comic Artist Interprets Great Poetry.

Thanks to NetGalley and Plough Publishing for making this available to me for review. Even on a laptop screen, the print is small, and being italicised, it's even harder to read. But the pages are certainly big enough to appreciate the artwork, and the poems are easy to find online. It's available for NetGalley readers until publication.

I think the real book, to be published in March 2026, will be terrific.