Shadow Play: Night Haiku

Shadow Play: Night Haiku by Penny Harter. Illustrated by Jeffrey Greene. Simon and Schuster, 1994, 32 pages, hardback, 10½ by 8¼ inches. $15.00 at bookstores. Only rarely does a major publishing house put out a collection of original English haiku; this is one such book, and it should be celebrated. This finely illustrated collection of 39 haiku for children on night themes serves as a fitting companion to Wind in the Long Grass, edited by William J. Higginson (Penny’s husband), also published as a children’s book by Simon & Schuster. Two selections, including the title poem:

nightfall—

the coolness of dirt

between toes

on my wall

two monsters fight—

shadow play