“Ivy in Bloom” is a Children’s picture book about a girl, Ivy, that is too tired of winter and snow and is looking forward to spring! Given she is a lovely girl herself, she is singing a poetic song to her wish for spring!

The “Spring poem” quotes phrases from well known poems. For those that don’t recognise them, the author makes them available at the end of the book. The author knits them together to form a new lovely poem that rolls smoothly. It is a great kind of poetry introduction to children, based on poetry by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Dickens, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, E. E. Cummings,  Christopher Morley, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Frost, Thomas Nashe, William Wordsworth, A. A. Milne, Robert Browning and the author herself!

The illustration by Kristin Blackwood is marvelous! The reader is really absorbed by the little girl that marches through the different seasons waiting for her favorite season! It really captures the eye and the details put in every page are adorable! For example I loved the monogrammed towels!

 

Goodreads / Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk / Book Depository / IndieBound

 

About the author:

Vanita Oelschlager is a wife, mother,grandmother, former teacher, current caregiver and, for almost ten years, author and poet.

She was born and raised near Pittsburgh. She is a graduate of Mt. Union College in Alliance, Ohio, where she currently serves as a Trustee.

She has also supported and helped Jim as he built Oak Associates, ltd. into a successful investment management firm.

Today, as an accomplished author, Vanita shares openly the experiences that she, Jim and their families have had with multiple sclerosis. She has likened MS to living with an elephant, one that won’t go away or be ignored. Together, she and Jim have found ways to live with this “elephant”, and to share some of the larger lessons about life they’ve learned through the disease.