Myra Cohn Livingston's poetry for the small child has earned her both popularity and critical acclaim. Widely anthologized, her early work evokes a simple, cheery, protected world of play and dreamy innocence, much in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson. Some of her more recent poetry, which has been highly recommended for middle grades and up, shows an increasing complexity in form, mood, and theme, even while it retains the immediacy of the contemporary child's voice and experience, and a continuing delight in play. Since her first book, Whispers, and Other Poems, was published in 1958, twenty books of her poetry have appeared, many of which have received awards; and in 1980 she received the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry Award for the body of her work. She is also a discriminating and lively anthologist, who draws on a wide range of times and cultures. Her...