In a poetic look at life in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, High (Under New York, p. 184, etc.) takes the reader through the seasons, illuminating the existence of Plain People. Highlighting the lack of modern conveniences, this educational view begins with spring, a time for picking flowers, fishing, and plowing the land. In summer, the corn is shucked, the cows are milked, and when the long day ends, weary ones lie down for a restful night’s sleep. A climatic shift and chromatic change in landscape produce autumn, where crops are preserved for winter meals and pumpkins are made ripe for selling. In winter, quilting by the fire and sipping hot chocolate prevent the cold from biting when anticipation for warmer days builds. Through all they’ve done to nurture their simple way of life with each new year, these folks know that a season or even a day is not complete without giving thanks to the Lord for all they have. A thin layer of oil clings to the canvas as cool shades and bright light spread across the fields as Farnsworth (Prairie School, p. 494, etc.) brings this community to life. Bold, brilliant colors are reserved for summer skies and winter quilts, while neutral shades and barely-there sketches give detail to the people, their land, and animals. Illustrations and prose magically come together in this rich view of a culture that’s reminiscent of a peaceful dream. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8028-5207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This heavily earnest celebration of multi-ethnicity combines full-bleed paintings of smiling children, viewed through a golden haze dancing, playing, planting seedlings, and the like, with a hyperbolic, disconnected text—``Dark as leopard spots, light as sand,/Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land...''— printed in wavy lines. Literal-minded readers may have trouble with the author's premise, that ``Children come in all the colors of the earth and sky and sea'' (green? blue?), and most of the children here, though of diverse and mixed racial ancestry, wear shorts and T-shirts and seem to be about the same age. Hamanaka has chosen a worthy theme, but she develops it without the humor or imagination that animates her Screen of Frogs (1993). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
Echoing Ashley Wolff’s 1988 approach to Stevenson’s poetic tribute to the power of imagination, Kirk begins with neatly drawn scenes of a child in a playroom, assembling large wooden blocks into, “A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, / And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride.” All of these acquire grand architectural details and toy-like inhabitants as the pages turn, until at last the narrator declares, “Now I have done with it, down let it go!” In a final twist, the young city-builder is shown running outside, into a well-kept residential neighborhood in which all the houses except his have been transformed into piles of blocks. Not much to choose between the two interpretations, but it’s a poem that every child should have an opportunity to know. (Picture book/poetry. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-689-86964-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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