Charlotte's River Winding winds through a reader's mind and heart
There are only thirty-two short poems in River Winding, a book of verse for very young children. Originally published in 1970 with the illustrations of Regina Sherkerjian (cover left), at  Abelard-Schuman, a second edition appeared in 1978. This time the pictures were by  Kazue Mizumura (cover right) and the publisher was Crowell. They poems have mostly small topics: a flowering azalea bush, a little sister attending her big sister's wedding, the rituals of bedtime, a cat prowling in the garden "looking for her prey./ But with a lovely flacking sound/ all the birds/fly away."

 
But not only do these seemingly these works take the child's point of view, close up, of mostly small subjects, the reverberations are large. (Left, the cat in the garden in the poem quoted from above, as Regina Sherkerijan pictured it). These poems have power. They stay with a reader, as witness the e-mail Charlotte's daughter, Crescent Dragonwagon, received: 

Hi!  I am a librarian with the Cuyahoga County Public Library system.  I have been trying to locate a poem by Charlotte Zolotow for a patron.  She believes that it is called "Change".

The last line is ..."It is only I who have changed". Can you help me with this?  I have checked the books which we carry at my branch, but have had no luck.  Any assistance with this question would be greatly appreciated. (To right: Kazue Mizumura's conception of the flowers described by Charlotte in the River Winding poem "Autumm")

Have a great day!

 Cathy B.

Here is the poem Cathy B's  library client requested. 

Charlotte's Home Page / e-mail charlottesdaughter@charlottezolotow.com