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Is it any wonder Mary Oliver’s poetry would find a home in the world of children’s literature? A few picture book biographies have been recently published and one is forthcoming next year.
Mary Oliver, Holding On to Wonder by Erin Frankel, illustrated by Jasu Hu (2025, Calkins Creek) aimed at 7-10 yr olds
Woods & Words: The Story of Poet Mary Oliver by Sara Holly Ackerman, illustrated by Naoko Stoop (2025, Beach Lane Books) aimed at Preschool- Gr 3
Wild Inside: Finding Joy with Mary Oliver by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Molly Mendoza (coming 2027, Scholastic Press) aimed at Preschool-Gr 3
We hear often that editors will turn down a manuscript because a particular market is saturated. Yet, my sister – a K-2 teacher for 38 years – reminds me that when teachers are teaching a unit on MLK or the rainforest, they need ten books on the same subject.
So it comes as no surprise that a new Mary Oliver book, GOLDFINCHES, with art by Caldecott Honor Winner Melissa Sweet has joined the canon of children’s books on this beloved poet.
Sweet has brought Oliver’s poem of the same name to life – illustrating the wonder and beauty of finches that come to the fields every summer.
Not every poem makes a perfect picture book. But “Goldfinches” has exactly the right pieces.
- A title that tells us exactly what we are going to read about: Goldfinches.
- An opening that invites and tantalizes:
“In the fields we let the have––
and the fields we don’t want yet––“
The first-person POV places the reader actively in the story right alongside Oliver. The opening lines set the reader up in a role of responsibility. Oliver cleverly makes the reader a permission-giver, a sly way to invite them into what triggers all of Oliver’s poetry: Noticing.
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Page Turns and Rising Tension
Noticing becomes a page-turn.
Thistles – for most a common weed – become “a settlement of riches –/ a coin of reddish fire –.“ They bud in spring. They will need the “brass heat” of midsummer. There is a preparing underway that takes time. And tucked into that waiting is the life of a flower.
- Beautiful illustrations
Even Sweet’s art adds to the page turns. Mixed-media jewel tones saturate Oliver’s words. From cover to endpapers to hidden case, each page is drenched in bold colors of the natural world. Electric pink blossoms tucked into gold-green fields. The profusion of flower hues finds their way into bits of color in tangled nests and the clothing of bird-watchers, reminding readers we are part of the full picture of nature.
My favorite point in the poem/story:
“Then they drop from the sky.”
Oliver’s word choice makes her poetry accessible to even the preschool reader.
“…they carry it/ in their finchy beaks…”
Not their orange beaks; not their poiny beaks; their FINCHY beaks–– because a child would know: that’s what goldfinches have, finchy beaks.
- A satisfying ending
Oliver’s story satisfies. The finches will swing and carry and build and lay “every year, and every year.” And hatchlings will “love the world” and sing. This is a story a child will tell. And the ending is one a child – and a child at heart – will understand:
“Have you ever been so happy in your life?”
Sidebar sketches sit softly on occasional pages. They tell the story of the thistle seed, nesting materials, finch parenting, and how the cycle repeats when the birds migrate away. This cycle is also nicely summarized on a one-page chart at the end of the book.
Non-fiction picture books inspire by some sort of call to action. Included in backmatter is Oliver’s handwritten bird list –– not a call to action, but a soft invitation to go outside, find a bird, and take notice.
“Goldfinches” first appeared in New and Selected Poems, Volume One (Beacon Press, 2004), “New Poems 1991-1992, p.36.”
Patricia Franz writes picture books and poetry. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
Patricia, what a glorious picture book! I must read this, and thank you for sharing the spreads as the art and words combined are amazing. Love your haiku review!!!