CROW AND HAWK

Rosen, Michael CROW AND HAWK A traditional Pueblo Indian tale, spectacularly illustrated with cut-paper collages—assemblages of sharp shapes, set against blue and clay-red backgrounds that are crammed with details to pore over. Crow gets tired of waiting for her eggs to hatch and abandons her nest; Hawk finds the nest, hatches the eggs, and raises the baby crows; Crow returns to the nest and demands to have her babies back, Hawk refuses, and Eagle resolves the conflict by letting the baby crows choose their mother. But most of this tale of justice, told in a telegraphic style, is found in the pictures, not in the words. Clementson breaks down his spreads into wide main panels, which feature vividly colored pictures, and narrow side panels, which contain the text plus stylized images; the text then acts as subtitles to go with the images in the larger sections. The borders are full of endless variety of decorative patterns, reminiscent of Pueblo Indian designs; but the frames are never restrictive. The characters cut across every barrier and fly off the edge of the page. Everything is in motion in these dynamic pictures, in this dynamic book. (Picture book/folklore. 3-8)