TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS is a wonderful collection of poems about camping. It begs to be read aloud, to be shared. This is an excellent book to read together with a loved one so that readers can appreciate the visual as well as the auditory aspects of the words. The book opens with “Tent”- an actual tent-shaped poem heralding the arrival of the family into the woods. Through just the few words of this first poem (“Shake, snap./ Billow, whoof, settle.), the reader is transported and ready to experience the trip. “Campfire” starts out “Warm front. Cold back./ I turn around./ Warm back. Cold front./ I turn around.” Not only are readers taken back to their own camping experiences, we can actually feel the sensation of campfire heat radiating into the cold night.

Publishers Weekly says that “the images are clear and startling.” This is evident in poems such as “By Myself”. The girl sits alone, quiet, and watches the world. She says, “I might sit here all day/ until I see seventeen jays,/ until the beetle reaches the pine,/ until the panther cloud crosses the sky.” Just reading these powerful images made me want to stop, go outside, throw out a blanket, lay on my back, and watch clouds. The next time I was outside, I did. As I rolled over to watch a spider crawl across the corner of the towel, I knew the strangely calm feeling the girl had when watching the “beetle reach the pine”.

George creates shapes with the words, such as the moon in “Eavesdropping”, but also lets the subject of the poem affect the placement of the words. For example, in “Storm”, the words are blown back, seeming to struggle to march across the page, heads down, hats held against the strong winds.

Luann Toth writes in School Library Journal, “All of the selections convey a child-focused sense of wonder” and that sense of wonder will transport even adults back to “that one camping trip”. In “Two Voices in a Tent at Night”, the sister and brother argue about whether they hear something outside of the tent. Reading this selection, I felt the nervous bunching in my stomach that could be fear or possibly laughter building up. I actually heard the words in my own and my brother’s voices. The universal feeling of being safe yet scared is a wonderful thing to conjure.

Kiesler’s illustrations are adequate, but just can’t seem to live up to the personal sense of the poetry. The night sky and wild mustard are beautiful, but the characters just don’t seem alive. The reader feels so in touch with the girl and her family that the paintings seem to be of stiff dolls posed as the camping family. It is certainly tough text to live up to, and that text stands alone so well that it almost seems to need no art to clarify it. The pictures seem to limit the personal possibilities, rather than to expand them. TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS is sure to be a family favorite among campers, and will surely inspire others to try the experience for themselves. Be prepared for lots of personal stories to come flowing out after sharing this book…a great journaling opportunity!

2001. Review of Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems in Publishers Weekly.

Toth, Luann. 2001. Review of Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems in School Library Journal. July.