"IN FOR WINTER, OUT FOR SPRING"

by Arnold Adoff ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1991

Narrated by its youngest member, Rebecca, a lyrical portrait of a black family living in a mansard-roofed house in the country. The book's generous size shows Pinkney's fine watercolors to splendid advantage. Whether subtly portraying an individual like 92-year-old Granny, capturing a shared moment, focusing on a wild creature, or suggesting the surrounding landscape, his paintings capture the people and their milieu with insight and depth. In nicely cadenced free verse, Adoff gathers a year's representative activities--no clichÉd holidays here, but rather the joys of being and growing, eating Daddy's cakes and Momma's crisp chicken, planting, observing. The playfully imaginative typography (all words are capitalized; many are letter- or word-spaced; the text is arranged to form unusual patterns on every page) is intriguing, or perhaps distracting: it reflects how Rebecca's thoughts may dance along and then pause for rumination or to change direction, while also suggesting pacing and emphasis for the reader. But The Capitals' Emphasis On Every Word Grows Monotonous. Still, a notably joyous celebration of family and season.

Pub Date: March 1, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1991

Categories: POETRY