I was delighted to find this treasure at Powell’s last summer.  It is a recent collection of poetry illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators (I’ve seriously gobbled up as many books as I can find illustrated by her and I’m endlessly fascinated with her artistic choices).

“Cricket in the Thicket” is a collection of poems about bugs by Carol Murray (and yes there are wonderful nonfiction sidebars on every page), illustrated by Melissa Sweet.  Even in a book about bugs, I found myself delighted in her illustrations.  (I admit that I’m not really a big fan of bugs.)

In these two examples, I LOVE the use of measuring tape for an “inch” worm and of course the letter hidden in the shape of the bee’s wings.  It is for delightful little things like this (and the use of mixed media like pages from an old book about etymologists) that I will forever love her work.