Yolen (Girl in a Cage, above, etc.) focuses on family, tradition, and the fruit of the earth in her latest effort, illustrated in golden tones by Shed (I Loved You Before You Were Born, not reviewed, etc.). Written in the voice of the girl narrator, the rhythmic chant begins: “Three months just past, I helped to sow, / Bringing the harvest home, / I planted wheat in every row, / Bringing the harvest home. / Each tiny grain was set in earth / To give the wheat a wholesome berth./ A summer’s coin, a year’s full worth, / Bringing the harvest home.” Throughout, Shed’s luminous full-bleed portraits, rendered in gouache and gently textured with the grain of canvas and brush, stretch across each double-paged spread, abutting text set against a panel the color of sweet butter. Shed captures Bess, brother Ned, mother, father, and others as they work the field. One stunning portrait, for example, pictures Bess bearing a load of wheat in her arms while her mother and sister work in the distance (“Two rows behind work Ma and Jen, / Bringing the harvest home. / They cut more quickly than the men, / Bringing the harvest home”). Shed’s elegant, yet earthy, portraiture and Yolen’s dignified language combine to transcendent effect; although the costumes (straw hats, plain pants held up by suspenders, and simple cotton dresses) might seem to indicate a different era, the work could just as easily be set in modern Pennsylvania Dutch country. Back matter contains an author’s note; in it, Yolen explains that the verse is based on traditional harvest songs, which are characterized by an evolving narrative followed by a repeated chorus. Instructions for making a harvest doll are also included. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-15-201819-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd.
This British import is an imaginatively constructed sequence of images that show a white boy examining a city pavement, clearly in London, and the sights he would see if he were able to travel down to the Earth’s core and then back again to the surface.
The geologic layers are depicted in 10 vertical spreads that require a 90-degree turn to be read and include endpapers, which open out, concertina fashion, to show the interior of the Earth to its core. Beneath the urban setting are drains, pipes, and artifacts of urban infrastructure. Below that, archaeological relics are revealed. An Underground train speeds by, and below it, a stalactite-encrusted cave yawns. Deep below the Earth’s crust, magma, the Earth’s mantle, and the inner core are shown. Turn the page to start going up again, back through the mantle to the crust, where precious minerals are revealed, then fossils, tree roots, and animal burrows, ending with the same boy in the English countryside. The painted, stenciled, and collaged illustrations are full-bleed, and the tones graduate pleasantly from light colors at the surface of the Earth to rich pinks, yellows, and oranges as readers near the Earth’s core. The text is informative, if lacking in poetry, including such nuggets as “earthworms are expert recyclers, eating dead plants in the soil.”
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-136-9
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Words & Pictures
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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