A Song About Myself

Raschka injects fresh whimsy into a bit of linguistic tomfoolery from one of the poet's letters to his younger sister...Visually boisterous, great fun to read aloud, and likely to incite some "wond'ring" along with the laughter.
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Raschka fittingly dedicates this edition to his own sister, and his endpapers make connections across time and space, too: a collapsed map imagines the islands of New York City abutting those of Scotland. It's an enchanting and intimate glimpse of the distant, anthologized Keats as a conversational letter writer who once "stood in his shoes/ And... wonder'd" at his world.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Raschka's free-flowing watercolors pick up the nursery-rhyme folksiness in the lines and also have a touch of Keats' near-contemporary Edward Lear in their joyful absurdity. If you're looking to cunningly thread some canonical poetry into a collection or seeking to springboard a comparison between verse then and now, this will fill the bill.
--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Students can write their own playful poems about themselves, rhyming or not, after reading this delightful picture book. A lovely introduction to this romantic poet that will please readers of any age.
--School Library Journal

Raschka's exuberant pictures and Keats's playful nonsense poem make an irresist- ible combination from the very first page...An appended illustrator's note details the origins of the Keats ditty, written (as part of a letter to his sister) almost two hundred years ago--and now revisioned as a joyful nonsensical experi- ence for young listeners and readers.
--The Horn Book

Caldecott Medal and Honor winner Chris Raschka brings a playful poem by John Keats to life with his vibrant watercolor paintings.
--Literacy Daily