This book is suitable for primary readers though may be useful in an intermediate setting.
Emily Dickinson's unique lens through which she viewed life along side her capacity for powerful emotions led to her creating works of poetry that live on in the minds of readers today.
This book could be useful when teaching children about creative writing. ( )

A biographical introduction to the unusual life of 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson.

An inquisitive child who explored “every bird, every flower, every bee or breeze or slant of light,” Emily adored her brother and enjoyed her school friends, experienced intense feelings, thoughts, and desires, and loved reading, which felt like traveling “on a sea of words.” When people failed to answer her existential questions, Emily put “faith in what she could see and understand.” Gradually, her thoughts and feelings emerged as poems that set her free and allowed her to dwell in an inner world “bigger than all the world outside.” Continuing to enjoy her gardens, dog, family, select friends, and neighborhood children, the adult Emily rarely left her room, where she wrote and hid hundreds of amazing poems discovered after her death in 1886. Adroitly incorporating language and imagery from Dickinson’s poems as well as whole lines and stanzas, the neatly hand-lettered, lyrical text appropriately focuses on how Emily’s rich inner life crystallized into her remarkable poetry. Splendid illustrations combine both folk-art and surrealist styles to contrast Emily’s limited physical journey from sensitive child to reclusive poet within the confines of her family home with imaginative scenes of her limitless inner life showcasing visual images from her poems. Inspired use of the butterfly motif captures the poet’s enigmatic spirit.

Stunning. (notes on Dickinson and poetry, author’s note, artist’s note)

-Kirkus Review

Author Jennifer Berne and illustrator Becca Stadtlander join forces in this gorgeous picture-book biography of poet Emily Dickinson. Following her story from her birth in 1830 through her death fifty-six years later, the narrative combines Berne's description of the events of Dickinson's life with quotations from her poetry. These quotations often highlight the central emotional motif of a given observation, whether it be about the poet's preoccupation with death, or her love for the natural world around her. The after matter includes more information about Dickinson, a note about exploring poetry, and notes from both author and illustrator...

On Wings of Words: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson is the first book I have read from Berne, but the third from Stadtlander, after Eugenie Doyle's Sleep Tight Farm: A Farm Prepares for Winter and David Elliott's On the Wing. I initially sought it out, in fact, because I was looking for more of Stadtlander's work, and I was certainly not disappointed on that score! The illustrations here are simply gorgeous, with a lovely color palette, beautifully expressive figures (both human and animal), and some very creative compositions, visually speaking. There were so many scenes where the artwork really worked to explore the abstract ideas in the text, but one of my favorites was the two-page spread showing Emily and her love of books:



Just gorgeous! The text is engaging, and strikes a nice balance between the informative writing by Berne and the creative poetry of Dickinson herself. Recommended to young poets, to picture-book readers looking for titles about Emily Dickinson, and to fans of Becca Stadtlander's artwork. ( )