The City Sings Green & Other Poems About ­Welcoming Wildlife

PreS-Gr 3–Urban life, wildlife, and everyday life all artfully blend together in this notable book of poetry starring high-impact visuals, remarkable vocabulary, and impeccable rhyming verse with a smidgen of activism that quickly shows readers how humans intervene so nature can work her magic. For instance, in a Los Angeles schoolyard, a blacktop is removed and seeds are sown, as an oasis of wild flora invites a rare burrowing owl to take notice and move in. When migrating birds soar the Mississippi Flyway over Chicago, city dwellers adopt a voluntary Lights Out Chicago to protect the birds from artificial light distractions. These are only two examples of how Silverman showcases global environmental impacts of rewilding cities. Page by page, Silverman’s poetic mastery shines as she leads readers into her well-crafted world of rhyme and scientific information. This good narrative incorporates awareness of empathy and learning that Hsu artfully captures in her brightly colored drawings that deftly complement the prose.