Hi there! We are chugging right along through summer over here, and tomatoes are having their shining moment at the farmer's market right now. In the South, a tomato and mayonnaise sandwich on white bread is a bit of a religion. There is a man at my farmer's market that grows heirloom tomatoes of all colors and shapes, and he is a wonderful character. He takes the buying and selling of his tomatoes quite seriously, and I don't blame him because they are delicious. When I approach his market stall and pick up a tomato, he narrows his eyes and looks at me with an almost grave voice, "When and how do you plan on eating that?" Depending on my answer, he might say the tomato I picked is okay or completely refuse to sell me my chosen fruit, insisting I purchase another one instead.

This collection of poems by Julie Fogliano celebrates the tomatoes of summer as well as golden autumn foliage, the first robin song of spring, and cozy snow days spent snuggled on the sofa in winter. Each poem is titled with a date of a month and day, and the poem speaks of the weather that day and how the narrator feels about that weather. Unlike the absurdist silliness of Shel Silverstein or the playful fantasies of Jack Pretulusky, Fogliano's poems are almost melancholy. The best parts of every season are fleeting, and her poems always seem aware of that. That being said, we still enjoyed the quiet little moments in each poem like how each time a robin sings, its song puts a crack in winter, eventually breaking through to spring.

Have you read this poetry collection? What did you think of it? How would you compare Fogliano to other children's poets?