The writer, Jean Little, is blind I can only say it has sharpened her other senses and her intuition of basic human emotion powerfully. Even today I can still find wisdom in every poem and piece of prose. Now that I am a young woman, near to having a family of my own, I treasure my battered old copy of this book, nearly worn to pieces from repeated readings. Little does it in such a fabulous way that one instantly understands just what kind of mood she is describing. Poems like "Today," "Alone," and "Yesterday" capture perfectly feelings and emotions that nobody ever thinks to capture, yet Ms. Later, when I was a teenager, I went back and read the poems again because they seemed to describe the utter tumult and solitude that I felt during such a trying time. I absolutely devoured the book, enjoying it more for the humor Jean Little displays impeccably in her writing, and the utter appropriateness of Sue Truedell's wonderful illustrations.
I was so thrilled because I shared the name of the character in the book, Kate. I was about eight years old when my mom first brought this book home for me. Other observations are more joyful, such as the hope for spring (in February in Canada!) or being happy to have a best friend like her friend Emily. Kate's observation on the situation is that she could deal with being snapped at, but having to deal with her mother's sadness was something much harder. Later, Kate's mother comes back to apologize, saying she had a bad day at work, etc, and that she didn't mean to snap like that. Some of these things are quite moving, such as the time that Kate's mother yells at her to clean her room. Rather than using long journal entries, Kate relates little things in her world through poems and through short stories. With this book, the reader gets an insight into Kate that is refreshing. I haven't read any of the other books that include Kate, but this book does stand alone. Strangely enough, the title poem "Hey World, here I am" is probably the one I liked the least in the whole book. However, I didn't take time to ponder most of the illustrations.) (I think it only took me about 45 minutes to read from cover to cover. I had been meaning to read this book for quite awhile, but never quite got around to it until today.
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