As we forgive those done to us,
The lamb, the linnet, and the hare,

Forgive us all our trespasses,
Little creatures everywhere.
      —from "Little Things" by James Stephens

Adrienne Adams has chosen thirty-three poems that speak movingly to her of the earth and its creatures in the simple and authentic language of truly fine poets. Robert Frost, Theodore Roethke, Randall Jarrell are among those whose sense of our relation to the earth is here brought within reach of young readers by a picture book treated with rare respect for the text.

Miss Adams, twice an illustrator of Caldecott Honor Books and a frequent contributor to the list of ALA Notable books, has complemented these poems with illustrations of delicacy, good taste, and deep feeling.

From the dust jacket