The Wishing Bone, and Other Poems

Amusingly absurd and playfully profound, this delightfully illustrated volume of original poems is sure to tickle the fancy of children and adults alike. It happened on a winter's day (The air was cold, the sky was gray): Out walking in the woods alone, I came upon a wishing bone. What would you do if everything you wished came true? How does a white rhinoceros take his tea? Where can you find the elusive purple tiger? Who wanders in the whiffle bog on a bilgy, bulgy night? Resonating with childlike questions, the fanciful poems in THE WISHING BONE invite readers to think and to dream. Full of illustrations as fresh and whimsical as the verse, here is a collection to read aloud and savor for its sheer verbal and visual exuberance.

Stephen Mitchell is a renowned writer, translator, and anthologist. His more than thirty books for adults and children include THE NIGHTINGALE (a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic story),
as well as translations of Rilke, Genesis, and the TAO TE CHING. This is his first collection of poems for children. Of the poems in THE WISHING BONE, he says,
"They’ll tell you all you need to hear,
They’ll whisper to your inner ear,
And sometimes they will make you laugh
As if you saw a pink giraffe
Tap-dancing with a tuna fish.
They make no bones: Their dearest wish
Is that you like them. If you do,
Then (naturally) they’ll like you."


Tom Pohrt has illustrated many children’s books, including the best-selling CROW AND WEASEL by Barry Lopez. He is a self-taught artist. This is his first book with Candlewick Press.