Although Harry Behn wrote children's novels, adult poetry, a critical book, and two translations of Japanese haiku, he is best remembered for his seven volumes of poems for children. All but one illustrated by the author, they capture the experiences of the growing child as he confronts the inner world of his imagination and the outer world of his senses. In the tradition of the major romantic poets, Behn focuses on a specific incident or moment of time and portrays sensitively not only the perceptions but the responses of the perceiver.

Born in Yavapai County, Arizona, to Henry K. and Maren Christensen Behn, Harry Behn grew up in the desert and mountain country of the Southwest. As a boy he was an avid reader; Hans Christian Andersen, William Blake, and George MacDonald were his favorite writers. In Chrysalis; Concerning Children and Poetry (1968), Behn said of these writers, "Their...