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HOW TO PAINT THE PORTRAIT OF A BIRD

Name: HOW TO PAINT THE PORTRAIT OF A BIRD
Author: Jacques Prévert
ISBN: 978-1-59643-215-4

by Jacques Prévert & illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein & translated by Mordicai Gerstein ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2007

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Gerstein sets the words of the French poet to pictures. Prévert’s poem reads like a lighthearted manual for a young painter who wishes to paint an elusive bird. The boy follows instructions precisely—painting an inviting cage to be placed under a tree to await the bird. When the bird comes, the young artist is charged with erasing the cage and, in its place, painting a tree with a perfect branch upon which the bird can light and sing. At the end of the day, the boy, who has faithfully executed directions and exercised great patience, carries home his canvas, bird, tree and all, only to have the bird fly away during the night. The poet’s advice: “Tomorrow you can paint another one.” Gerstein’s recognizable style seems at one with the lightness of Prévert’s intended whimsy. A double-page spread drolly depicts artistic endurance as the boy waits through passing seasons for his bird to come. With irresistible wit, this makes its point that, with dedication, art and creativity are infinitely renewable. (Picture book/poetry. 5-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2007

ISBN: 978-1-59643-215-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2007

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

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ALL THE COLORS OF THE EARTH

by Sheila Hamanaka ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1994

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
GRANDPARENTS SONG
by Sheila Hamanaka & illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HOKEY POKEY
by Larry La Prise & Charles P. Macak & Taftt Baker & illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka

- BOOK REVIEW
BEBOP-A-DO-WALK!
by Sheila Hamanaka & illustrated by Sheila Hamanaka

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POCKET POEMS

edited by Bobbi Katz & illustrated by Marylin Hafner ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2004

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With an eye toward easy memorization, Katz gathers over 50 short poems from the likes of Emily Dickinson, Valerie Worth, Jack Prelutsky, and Lewis Carroll, to such anonymous gems as “The Burp”—“Pardon me for being rude. / It was not me, it was my food. / It got so lonely down below, / it just popped up to say hello.” Katz includes five of her own verses, and promotes an evident newcomer, Emily George, with four entries. Hafner surrounds every selection with fine-lined cartoons, mostly of animals and children engaged in play, reading, or other familiar activities. Amid the ranks of similar collections, this shiny-faced newcomer may not stand out—but neither will it drift to the bottom of the class. (Picture book/poetry. 7-9)