Everything Comes Next by Naomi Shihab Nye (review)

Nye, Naomi Shihab Everything Comes Next. Greenwillow, 2020 [256p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780063013452 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063013476 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 7 up

Over 100 poems, some new, some previously published, are collected in this volume by Young People's Poet Laureate Nye. The anthology breaks into three parts: "The Holy Land of Childhood," focusing on child experiences, "The Holy Land That Isn't," exploring various aspects of the author's Palestinian heritage and identity, and "People Are the Only Holy Land," considering and celebrating humanity individual and general. The poet's voice is, as always, distinct and inquisitive and hopeful, sometimes playful, sometimes tender, sometimes both; though some poems seem more adult-aimed, they're all accessible to young readers. While browsing is rewarding, there's a cumulative impact, especially in the last two sections, that's valuable: Nye, experiencing the loss of her father and her Palestinian father's loss of his land, finds, evaluates, and eventually chooses pieces of her experience to assemble in hope of making a better world. Her intimate knowledge of the wounds of faction makes her impulse for connection all the more compelling, and readers will wish to join her in becoming "secret diplomats." Notes on many of the poems are appended.