Rooted in the Vermont countryside, Caldecott-artist Azarian’s (Snowflake Bentley, 1998, etc.) signature woodcuts brighten Kinsey-Warnock’s (Lumber Camp Library, p. 572, etc.) pedestrian account of growing up on a Vermont farm. After hearing their mother’s stories of Scottish ancestors, the children wonder why their forebears moved to the land (Vermont) that demanded much hard work. Through the seasons, from dawn till dusk, reminisces of difficult work, as well as the storytelling, eating sweet maple candy, and fishing are enumerated. The idyllic childhood routine: long-hot days of summer, sugaring time in the spring, mud-filled afternoons, Sunday drives; building fences, picking stones from the fields, mowing grass, baling hay, making apple cider in the autumn; and a myriad of other activities helps to build a family narrative. The sturdy woodcuts complement the text, despite the fact that a few, particularly the night scenes, seem too dark and somewhat uninspired. Selected photographs from the author’s and illustrator’s family albums, appended at the end, reinforce the notion that this is a very personal story of the simple pleasures of a rural life gone by. While not Azarian’s best work the illustrations are nonetheless a significant factor in making this unexciting but comfortable tale one that readers will enjoy reading. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-18655-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Keena Ford’s second-grade class is taking a field trip to the United States Capitol. This good-hearted girl works hard to behave, but her impulsive decisions have a way of backfiring, no matter how hard she tries to do the right thing. In this second book in a series, Keena cuts off one of her braids and later causes a congressman to fall down the stairs. The first-person journal format is a stretch—most second graders can barely write, let alone tell every detail of three days of her life. Children will wonder how Keena can cut one of her “two thick braids” all the way off by pretend-snipping in the air. They will be further confused because the cover art clearly shows Keena with a completely different hairdo on the field trip than the one described. Though a strong African-American heroine is most welcome in chapter books and Keena and her family are likable and realistic, this series needs more polish before Keena writes about her next month in school. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3264-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009
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