North Country Spring: A Book of Verse for Children. Rev. ed.

Laurence Steven is a professor of English at Laurentian University and
author of Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White’s Fiction.

Elizabeth Kouhi’s poems respond to her perception that “Our north
country has not found its way into verse.” Thanks to Penumbra
Press’s commitment to northern authors and illustrators like Kouhi and
Pennanen, the distinctive beauty of Northern Ontario is becoming a part
of our poetic landscape. Of course, the North is featured on the
canvases of the Group of Seven and in the lines of such poems as A.J.M.
Smith’s “The Lonely Land” and F.R. Scott’s “Laurentian
Shield.” Kouhi’s nature lyrics, however, have a domestic and human
element to them, even while the landscape or flora and fauna are the
focus. Her North is a humanly lived-in world rather than one in which
humans must struggle to survive. Children will appreciate these poems,
in which Kouhi charts the changing seasons, identifies wildflowers with
her floral guide, or has wry chats with birds and animals, such as the
“Squirrel”: “What a silly / You are / Standing there / On your
branch / Rubbing / Your tummy / Nagging and / Scolding, / Making / The
woods / Echo / With your / Yammer.”

Each page features a sketch by Judi Pennanen and a poem by Kouhi.
Pennanen takes her lead from the poems and complements them well. The
book is a quality production. Recommended.