Marilyn Nelson Waniek (pronounced Vonyek) has established herself as a writer for children and juveniles. In this respect she is much like Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes, who, early on, learned that writing for children would keep bread on the table while they pursued adult topics. Waniek's publications include Hundreds of Hens and Other Poems for Children (1982)--her translations (with Pamela Espeland) from the humorous works of Danish poet Halfdan Rasmussen--and The Cat Walked Through the Casserole and Other Poems for Children (1984), another collaboration with Espeland. Waniek's books for adults are the poetry collections For the Body (1978), Mama's Promises (1985), and The Homeplace (1990), for which she made the National Book Award list of finalists for 1991. All five of these collections show a skillful handling of narrative and lyric, as well as a vision that is at once simple and complex, traits that have begun to earn for Waniek a...