Beautiful illustrations ( )

Beautiful illustrations ( )

Not my favorite poetry book. Easy to read to students but didn’t make the most sense ( )

very artsy - very intuitive/creative ( )

"Where do I end and you begin?" asks a series of creatures and objects to a part of themselves - a cat to its tail, for instance - or to the larger whole of which they are a part - a branch to a tree - in this poetic picture-book. In every case, there is a sense of connection, of smaller parts being integral to the larger whole, and of everything fitting together.

I won't lie: I picked up Where Do I End and You Begin? because of the immensely appealing kitty cat on the cover, hoping, as a confirmed cat-lover, that it would be a picture-book celebration of feline charm. I recognized the author's name, of course - Oppenheim wrote a children's fantasy novel many years ago about selkies, a subject of interest to me - although the illustrator - Swiss artist Monique Félix - was unknown to me. Although not what I was expecting, I did find this books appealing, and think that the combination of rhyming text and beautiful artwork would make it an excellent read-aloud selection at bedtime. The concluding passage - "Well, / I know where the sky / meets the end of the sea, / I know where the branch / meets the trunk of the tree, / I know where the flower / meets the buzz of the bee, / And I know, when we hug - / That's the place you meet me!" - leaves the reader and listener with a feeling of connection as well. Recommended to anyone looking for beautifully illustrated picture-books, or for children's poems about belonging, the sense of connection, and everything fitting together into one big whole. ( )