Ted Kooser

Personally, I found this sort of quiet and dull overall. I read it immediately after reading [b:Emile and the Field|58496713|Emile and the Field|Kevin Young|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1629120236l/58496713._SX50_.jpg|91866951] and I think it suffered in comparison. Whereas Emile has a musicality and seems to speak directly to children, I thought the poems in Mashmallow Clouds were clunky to read aloud, and most didn't feel like they'd have much child appeal.

There are a few poems in this collection that I appreciated. I liked "Remote" and "Cow Pie" which are among the few funny poems in the book. I also liked "Trees" ("Growing up for a tree / is mostly reaching out and out to touch another, / and that's enough of a life.") because it reminded me of a scene in the movie C'mon C'mon where this little boy is so excited to talk about how trees communicate with each other.

The subtitle (Two Poets at Play among Figures of Speech) made me think these poems would be exploring well-known figures of speech in a playful way, but that's not what's going on here. It would be more accurate to say this is Two Poets Making Observations Using Figurative Language.… (mere)