Today Is Saturday

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, John Arms (Photography)

Twenty-four poems about the activities of a day free of cares - what to do, see, or wonder about.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Zilpha Keatley Snyder was an American author of books for children and young adults. Three of Snyder's works were named Newbery Honor books: The Egypt Game, The Headless Cupid and The Witches of Worm. She was most famous for writing adventure stories and fantasies.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it highly unlikely that I would ever have come across this title, despite my interest in children's literature, were it not for my 2006 children’s-literature project - to read all of Zilpha Keatley Snyder's work. This sixth book by the prolific children's author offers a collection of twenty-four poems, each devoted to some aspect of play or free time. The poems are accompanied by black and white photographs of children at play.

Although a great admirer of Ms. Snyder's fiction, I must confess that I was distinctly unimpressed by this collection. To be fair, children's poetry is not an area in which I do a lot of reading, and this may be the sort of thing more suitable for young people to read - perhaps aloud?

That said, there were one or two lines that struck my fancy. In particular: the statement that "The world is everywhere and near" in the poem, The Living World; and the notion that "If you opened you eyes/ In a special way,/ You could see the things/ He didn't quite say" from Frog. Sentimental or not, I also liked the poem This Friend, which celebrates the unconditional love that a dog offers.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was young, Zilpha Keatley Snyder was one of my favorite writers. I bought this on a whim when I saw a used copy for sale at an online bookstore, thinking it must be one of her novels. Instead, it's a short book of poems for children, accompanied by John Arms' black and white photos.

I only liked one poem, but I *really* liked it, so I'm giving this book four stars. The poem I liked is called "Your Thing," and it's a play on "Song of the Witches" from Macbeth ("Double, double, toil and trouble," etc). Snyder's version is about celebrating your own creative projects and has the refrain "Sing the thing that you have done." I did a quick search and didn't see the poem online anywhere, so I'll share a random stanza here:

Mystic, magic, witches' brew,
Ancient echoes spun anew,
Into, out of, subtly bent,
By the light that you have spent,
Something's new beneath the sun,
In the thing that you have done.

I feel like "Your Thing" has the same weird/otherworldly energy I always liked in her novels. Now I want to go back and read them all again.