Hope is the Thing with Feathers

HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS
By Emily Dickinson; illustrated by Tim Hopgood
Booklist
March 1, 2024

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers. By Emily Dickinson. Illus. by Tim Hopgood
Mar. 2024. 32p. Baker & Taylor/Paw Prints, $18.99 (9781223188164). PreS–Gr. 2. 811.4

A wide-eyed child peers out her window at a small brown bird trilling on a tree limb. “HOPE is the thing with feathers,” begins the story, “That perches in the soul.” As Dickinson’s tight language dances across the pages, the bird takes flight and travels through gentle rain and then gales before emerging in sunshine to land upon a branch before the child at the poem’s end. As with his expressive interpretation of song lyrics in What a Wonderful World, by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss (2015), illustrator Hopgood (My Big Book of Outdoors, 2022) brings movement and a child-centered framework to adult text. The warm palette of the artwork conveys its optimism, and softly edged pencil, chalk, and ink images feature the singing bird moving resolutely forward. A brief biography of Dickinson and exposition of the poem are accompanied by a glossary and activity in the back matter, along with the poem in its entirety. This artistic interpretation breathes fresh life into a moving and familiar metaphor and is well suited for home and library enjoyment.

— Kit Ballenger