So adorable! I learnt a lot from this book and I’m an adult. It is very inspiring for kids and could be a great first introduction to poetry.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I have a fondness for poetry and a soft spot for picture books that depict the lives of poets. A Pocket of Time has joined my classroom library alongside Enormous Smallness and A River of Words.

This book was way too long, way to wordy, and way to boring for a picture book. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This is about a famous poet that lived from 1911 to 1979. It focuses on her life when she was a little girl. She lived in Nova Scotia with her Gammie and Pa where she grew up learning to read and write, so basically it was the beginning of her life, but her life as a poet as well. It is a beautifully illustrated book designed for elementary age readers. It is also written in lyrical form to tell her story making it fitting to tell a poet’s story. It is well done and a quick read. If you are interested in learning more about this poet it is an good book to read. It is a nice introduction to her, but not a full biography, yet you get an idea of her and some quotes from her work as well. This isn’t what I was expecting when I started reading this book. It is worth it for the beautiful pictures and introduction to Bishop as well as her work though. It is good for children and those that are fans of her's. If you are wanting more than that perhaps another book about Bishop is the way to go. Some of the book was difficult to follow especially since this is a book children are going to read.

I admittedly am unfamiliar with Elizabeth Bishop, and knowing something about her would add to enjoying this book, I believe. I did google her after finishing it, and reread, and it did help. This is about her early years, growing up in Nova Scotia with her maternal grandparents, and goes through her daily life and surroundings, based on Bishop's writings later in life. Snippets of her poetry are added in, sometimes hitting, sometimes missing. The subject matter is interesting, as a peek into her world, but the execution is a bit stiff, a touch flat. The introduction and postscript were more lively however. The illustrations are very engaging- I enjoyed the combination of detailed drawings and collage, and they highlighted the text nicely. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

#APocketofTime #NetGalley

This book about Elizabeth Bishop is for young school-aged children.  Elizabeth began making and enjoying rhymes as a girl and grew up to become a well-known poet. 


Elizabeth had a complicated childhood, as the introduction to the book explains.  Her father died when she was young and her mother was eventually admitted to a psychiatric hospital.  It was then Elizabeth's maternal grandparents who raised her in Nova Scotia, Canada.


The story is told by showing the places that were important to Elizabeth. It is narrated in the present tense in a "you are there" tone. For example, the reader sees Gammie and Elizabeth in the kitchen or the family eating dinner in the dining room.  The reader also travels outside with Elizabeth, for example, accompanying her to school or the post office. 


The illustrations in this book are gorgeous; they are both whimsical and appealing.  Additionally the book includes many quotes from Bishop and her writings.  This title is not in any way a full biography but it gives a nice sense of Elizabeth's world.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book, but I just liked it okay. The fragments of poems on each page meant to illuminate the storyline frequently confused me, seemingly pulled out of context in order to fit into the storyline. The book will be interesting to children who are already fans of the poet, perhaps.

This book tells the story of Elizabeth Bishop's childhood in Nova Scotia and the extracts of her poems seem to fit the story perfectly. But. most times, my attention was drawn to the drawings and pictures of the book instead of to the text itself. Even though it was short I found it not that easy to keep on reading it for a long period of time because the writing style wasn't really my cup of tea. However, I'm not trying to say I didn't enjoy this tale because I did- specially the art style. Nevertheless, the plot seemed kinda flat. Still I feel like children would probably appreciate this book more because it's visually stunning.

<i>I'm full of hymns by the way... and I often catch echoes of them in my own poems. </i>

(The book would be 2.5 stars if that was an option.)

I think that this book had some interesting ideas, but in the end many of them fell flat for me. To preface this a bit, I am not very familiar with Elizabeth Bishop so there may have been parts of the book that would have felt more meaningful to someone who understood the history a little better.

The writing itself had a certain charm to it, something alike to what I would have enjoyed reading as a child (which makes sense in context of the book), but in the book there were parts of the writing that were italicized, meaning that they were in the words of Elizabeth Bishop. I thought this was a good idea, only when it came to the execution of this idea, I think that some of the quotes used felt a bit forced and didn't have the effect they were supposed to.
The story was good, if I'm not mistaken it was meant to follow a piece of the childhood of Elizabeth Bishop in Nova Scotia.If I'm honest though, there were parts during the story, I did find myself getting bored and staring at the pictures instead of the text itself. Part of me wishes the author could have focused a bit more on the emotional aspects of the book (it's explained that Bishop's mother is in a mental hospital called Mount Hope), but at the same time I can understand why the author chose to keep it more on the pleasant side as it kept the careless and joyful feeling of childhood.
Regarding the pictures, I think this may have been the strongest aspect of the book. There were a few that felt a little crowded or pointless (could have also been the online format though), but many of the scenes felt sweet and purposeful.

In conclusion, though this book may have fallen short for me in quite a few areas, if you are a fan of Emily Bishop or just like childhood-esc poetry this book may be for you.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

This book is beautifully illustrated and I especially loved the photographs that date from when Elizabeth Bishop was a child with her family, but the writing style didn't quite work for me. The quotations from Elizabeth's own poetry were in italics throughout the book but I felt they didn't always flow or gel very well with the text they were presented with and often fell flat.
Worth a read though as it is a nice book apart from that aspect.

A Pocket of time by Rita Wilson follows a young Elizabeth Bishop over a few days time while she lived with her grandparents Gammie and Pa on their farm in Great Village, Novia Scotia. Wilson weaves Bishop’s own words (identified by italics or quotation marks) amongst her own. The effect of this was hit and miss for me. Often it added a welcome poetic lyricism to the story, but at times the borrowed language was surprisingly flat, as when something moved Bishop “almost to tears to look at.” Wilson’s own language is solid and clear, though also a bit flat. Though the story moves chronologically, several segments felt disjointed to me, moments randomly plucked out instead of forming a cohesive, fluid narrative. Illustrations are always I’d say more subjective than text in terms of how readers respond. Personally, this style wasn’t to my liking, though others may enjoy it more. I did however like the way actual photographs from Bishop’s life were integrated.

Really lovely book and interesting to me as an adult but I'm not sure that children would really appreciate this one. I wasn't familiar with Elizabeth Bishop's background and the Introduction page was definitely necessary. I would have enjoyed a little more of her work, maybe a full poem at the end. Nice mix of type of illustrations.

Excuse me, what's up with this book?! It's the most disconnected thing I've ever read, made me feel like every page was a different story... like whaaat???

*** Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

While the illustrations and graphics were beautiful and fun, the story/poem itself was a little dull.