Collage illustrations and sidebars accompany 25 of Frost's most accessible poems. Organized in three groups, the selections reflect Frost's keenly observed walkabouts and rueful interrogations of youth and age. A convivial series introduction invites readers' enjoyment: "There is NO wrong way to experience a poem." Each sidebar contains three sections. "Engage" poses questions to help readers ponder poetic form and themes. "Imagine" suggests an activity for creative expression, and "Define" explains potentially unfamiliar words (bolded in each poem). The collaged mashups, composed of stock and public domain images, affix birds, flowers, and figures onto rich-hued but often banal landscapes that alternately evoke 19th-century European paintings and retrograde greeting cards. In all but one image, people appear to be light-skinned. Even where Frost specifically names species or describes scenes, generic, often misleading pastiches predominate--a sorely missed opportunity to extend and add visual nuance to the poems. "Hyla Brook" describes a dry June waterway "gone groping underground" with the Hyla frogs--a "brook to none but who remember long." An image of a frothing, blue-and-white stream contradicts the poem's subtle meaning. Notwithstanding the editorial openhandedness, an appended commentary provides didactic synopses and final suggestions for understanding each poem. A popular misconception of "The Road Not Taken" is thankfully corrected here, but for "Birches," Frost's meticulous imagery of a boy, a "swinger of birches," is interpreted as "children on swings" in a complete misreading of the poem. Could have been wonderful; isn't. (biographical facts, bibliography) (Poetry. 8-11) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 6 Up--In sections designated "Exploring Nature," "Innocence & Inspiration," and "Choice & Change," Frost's poems include the expected: "Birches," "Nothing Gold Can Stay," "The Road Not Taken," "Fire and Ice," "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," and "Mending Wall," and the less well-known but excellent selections: "Mowing," "The Oven Bird," "Hyla Brook," "Desert Places," "The Wood-Pile," and more. Dickinson's are similarly ranged in "The Natural World," "Ideas & Imagination," and "Heart & Spirit." Again, the familiar "Because I could not stop for Death" and the worth-knowing-better are here. Fans of each poet will miss some favorites, such as Dickinson's "Wild Nights--Wild Nights!" and Frost's "After Apple-Picking." In a margin on the right of each spread, several words per poem are helpfully defined; however, boldfacing these words within the lines of the poem gives them an importance that changes the impact of the lines. Oddly, in Frost's "The Door in the Dark," the word "native" is defined, but "simile" is not. The margins also contain pertinent, thoughtful, original questions about the poems. Dickinson's idiosyncratic punctuation has been slightly adjusted. Miles's attractive collage illustrations were created digitally with bits of Modigliani, Van Gogh, Friedrich, and more among a lot of colorful 19th-century popular images. Back matter includes a summary and something to notice about each poem; this information extends and enhances readers' experiences and adds greatly to these books' values. VERDICT Admirable introductions to poetry in general and to these poets in particular.--Patricia D. Lothrop