Someone recently recommended April Pulley Sayre to me, and so I picked up her 2020 picture book Cityscape: Where Science and Art Meet.
I’m glad I did. It is a picture book illustrated with photos–good and intentionally chosen photos–and written in verse. The lines rhyme, though the rhyme scheme shifts around a bit (as does the rhythm). For example, the first few lines rhyme AABCDC.
As the title suggests, the pictures are of cities: the buildings, bridges, lines, columns, spaces, and shadows that make up our urban realities. The verse is not a story but more of a celebration calling attention to specific architectural elements, design elements, and functions.
The result is both visually and verbally pleasant: a way to help kids see their world as art and start to feel verse as something for them.
