Black Stars in a White Night Sky

Black Stars in a White Night Sky is a collection of JonArno Lawson's whimsical poetry for middle grade and early adolescent readers. With characters named Merciful Percival, Ingomar Baltazar Caiaphas Copps, and Winsome Billy Willoughby, Black Stars has plenty of fun wordplay. Lawson fills his poems with alliteration and nonsense words, yet they are well-balanced with deep poems like my favorite, "An Adventure Begins," which is the first poem in the book.:

An adventure begins,

when the one who was grimacing

suddenly grins.

An adventure begins,

when the one who was losing

suddenly wins.

An adventure begins,

when the one who acts saintly

suddenly sins.

When the smooth surface pops up with circling fins,

when soft drums surrender to bold violins,

when the light of the moon starts to shine on our skins,

an adventure begins. 

Accompanied by Sherwin Tjia's illustrations which emphasize the actions in the poems, this collection will be enjoyed by young poetry fans.