Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of Elizabeth Bishop

The childhood of Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) is painted onto the canvas of Great Village, Nova Scotia in this gentle ode to the poet's early life. Before becoming a Pulitzer—Prize winning writer, young Bishop lived with her Gammie and Pa, learning to walk, to read and to write. Snippets of Bishop's own words and charming artwork from illustrator Emma FitzGerald teach young readers to see the poetry all around them.
There are, always, so many things to wonder about. Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979) grew up to become a famous poet, but before that, she was a little girl who lived with her Gammie and Pa in Great Village, Nova Scotia. It was there that Bishop learned to walk, to read, to write, to sing hymns, and to catch bumblebees in foxglove flowers. It was there she first went to school and, when she was five, where her mother left and never returned. Lovingly rendered, this visual and lyrical feast tells the story of Bishop's childhood days, inspired by Bishop's own poetry and prose and her time in Great Village, paired with eclectic collage-style artwork from illustrator Emma FitzGerald (EveryBody's Different on EveryBody Street). A love letter to words, A Pocket of Time is a lesson for young readers in finding the poetry in everything.