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THE NIGHT OF THE WHIPPOORWILL

Name: THE NIGHT OF THE WHIPPOORWILL
Author: Nancy Larrick
ISBN: 0-399-21874-2

edited by Nancy Larrick & illustrated by David Ray ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 1992

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A stellar addition to Larrick's many themed anthologies, with powerful illustrations that plunge the reader/listener into a mysterious, moon-washed world. The 34 poems, mostly from this century, come from such authors as de la Mare, Sandburg, Langston Hughes, Jarrell, McCord, Merriam, and Yolen, plus a few Native American and other traditional sources; they are artfully sequenced from a first poem about the deepening dark to a last two telling of the dawn; between are the moon, the Milky Way, nocturnal animals, and night in the city and on water, in wind and in storm. Ray's soft, dark acrylics, swirling with cloud, stardust, and mist, are extraordinarily sensitive to the texts. Some of his subtle touches are lovely: the moon seen through a moth's gossamer wings, stars mirrored in a stream, a stained-glass window reflected on a wet sidewalk. The text is effectively superimposed on blowing curtain, snowfield, fogbank, or cloud. Perfect, save for a flaw in the opening sequence when the moon rises where the sun has just set- -which is a pleasant visual conceit (also to be observed in Wiesner's Tuesday, 1991) but an astronomical impossibility. For an older audience than that of Larrick's When the Dark Comes Dancing (1983); a must. Fully indexed. (Poetry/Picture book. 7+)

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 1992

ISBN: 0-399-21874-2

Page Count: 72

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1992

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
TO RIDE A BUTTERFLY
edited by Nancy Larrick & Wendy Lamb

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DONAVAN'S WORD JAR

by Monalisa DeGross & illustrated by Cheryl Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 30, 1994

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Donavan's friends collect buttons and marbles, but he collects words. ``NUTRITION,'' ``BALLYHOO,'' ``ABRACADABRA''—these and other words are safely stored on slips of paper in a jar. As it fills, Donavan sees a storage problem developing and, after soliciting advice from his teacher and family, solves it himself: Visiting his grandma at a senior citizens' apartment house, he settles a tenants' argument by pulling the word ``COMPROMISE'' from his jar and, feeling ``as if the sun had come out inside him,'' discovers the satisfaction of giving his words away. Appealingly detailed b&w illustrations depict Donavan and his grandma as African-Americans. This Baltimore librarian's first book is sure to whet readers' appetites for words, and may even start them on their own savory collections. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: June 30, 1994

ISBN: 0-06-020190-8

Page Count: 72

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1994

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
DONAVAN’S DOUBLE TROUBLE
by Monalisa DeGross & illustrated by Amy Bates

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THE YEAR OF MISS AGNES

by Kirkpatrick Hill ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2000

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In 1948 the unorthodox Miss Agnes arrives to teach the children of an Athabascan Indian Village in remote Alaska. Ten-year-old Fred (Fredrika) matter-of-factly narrates this story of how a teacher transformed the school. Miss Agnes’s one-room schoolhouse is a progressive classroom, where the old textbooks are stored away first thing upon her arrival. The children learn to read using handmade books that are about their own village and lives: winter trapping camps, tanning moose hides, fishing, and curing the catch, etc. Math is a lesson on how not to get cheated when selling animal pelts. These young geographers learn about the world on a huge map that covers one whole schoolhouse wall. Fred is pitch-perfect in her observations of the village residents. “Little Pete made a picture of his dad’s trapline cabin . . . He was proud of that picture, I could tell, because he kept making fun of it.” Hill (Winter Camp, 1993, etc.) creates a community of realistically unique adults and children that is rich in the detail of their daily lives. Big Pete is as small and scrappy, as his son Little Pete is huge, gentle, and kind. Fred’s 12-year-old deaf sister, Bokko, has her father’s smile and has never gone to school until Miss Agnes. Charlie-Boy is so physically adept at age 6 that he is the best runner, thrower, and catcher of all the children. These are just a few of the residents in this rural community. The school year is not without tension. Will Bokko continue in school? Will Mama stay angry with Miss Agnes? And most important, who will be their teacher after Miss Agnes leaves? A quiet, yet satisfying account. (Fiction. 9-11)