It's Up to You and Me: Children's Poems

Ted McGee is an associate professor of English at St. Jerome’s
College, University of Waterloo.

This poetry collection consists of 15 short pieces about the various
aspects of a child’s life. These begin with “Morning” and end with
“Bed Time”; in between the poems touch on emotions (“Anger,”
“Sharing”), relationships (“My Friend,” “My Little
Brother”), activities (“Baking,” “Boating”), and things
(“Clouds,” “My Pet”). Michael Sawchuk’s crayon illustrations,
which mimic the artwork of children, depict the subject matter of each
poem. Only occasionally do they add new material, such as in the picture
accompanying the poem “School,” which features a yellow school bus
not mentioned in the poem.

Although narrated in the first person, as if by a child, the poems are
informed by adult principles of good behavior and desirable attitudes
for children. Consistently earnest, Mary Friesen strives to accentuate
the positive. Her rhyming quatrains, however, sometimes get in the way,
creating forced rhymes and awkward syntax such as in the eponymous first
poem (one addressed to adult readers): “Let’s make them feel secure
and loved / As every child should be. / Always be there for them /
It’s up to you and me. // When temptation tends to lure them, /
Let’s guide them all the way; / Diverting their direction, / A
foundation for them lay.” Like A Child’s Garden of Verses, there is
more of life as it should be than life as it is in this collection. Not
a first-choice purchase.