Millikin University Haiku Anthology, edited by Randy M. Brooks, Emily Evans, Rick Bearce, and Melanie McLay (Decatur, Ill.: Bronze Man Books, 2008). 1st edition. 192 pages; 5.5 x 8.5. Glossy white card covers; perfectbound. ISBN 978-0-978744-16-8. Price: $25.00.

This is a remarkable collection of 264 haiku written by Randy Brooks’s haiku students at Millikin University over the past decade in a book nicely designed and packaged by students. The reasons why Brooks’s classes are considered the preeminent college-level venue for the teaching of haiku are apparent on every page. These kids have come a very long way since their introduction to haiku, as coeditor Emily Evans writes in her preface, “in the fourth grade as a dreadful, boring 17-syllable poem.”