Friends and Foes: Poems about Us All by Douglas Florian

Abstract

Reviewed by: Friends and Foes: Poems about Us All by Douglas Florian Deborah Stevenson, Editor Florian, Douglas Friends and Foes: Poems about Us All; written and illus. by Douglas Florian. Beach Lane, 2018 [48p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4424-8795-6 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4424-8796-3 $10.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 2-4 Twenty-five poems treat the joys and challenges of friendship and the challenges and occasional joys of enmity. Poems address friendship across different languages (“How Do You Say ‘Friend’?”) and realities (“Imaginary Friend’), and animosity earned (“You Lied to Me”) and unjust (“Jealousy”). The scansion of the rhyming verse stumbles occasionally, and the sunny poems celebrating friendship are sometimes fairly flat; more interesting are the funny ones (“The Fabulous Five,” a basketball team that loses every game) or the verses treating complications (“We Used to Be Friends”) or even enmity (“Billy the Bully”), and the inclusion of a few poems for two voices provides additional utility. The full-bleed art in sunny colors is distinctively childlike both in its naïve draftsmanship and its vigorous streaky crayoning; while the effect is sometimes muddy, the art’s playfulness suits the tone of the frisky verses. Florian’s zoological poetry (Insectlopedia, BCCB 7/98, etc.) has more punch, but this could still be an entertaining romp for his fans or introduction for Florian newbies. [End Page 469] Copyright © 2018 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois