★
REVIEW TEAM FAVORITE
The Snowy Day
By: Ezra Jack Keats
Medal Winner
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4-8
Also read and recommended by: Christine Kallner, Sherry Early
Today is a sweltering, muggy, high-heat day in the South where I live. That's why I chose to review The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats today. The story and illustrations bring back to my memory those wintry days in my growing up years in upstate New York. Waking up to snow was a wonder! A delight! My siblings and I couldn't wait to get outside to play, build snowmen, have snowball fights, and go sledding. This book captures that delight as Peter experiences playing in the snow. Keats' illustrations are simple collages using various media like paint, fabric scraps, and even magazine clippings. Enjoy this book by Keats and many others he wrote and illustrated.
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present
By: Charlotte Zolotow
Illustrated by: Maurice Sendak
Honor
Reviewed by: Sandy Hall
Recommended age: Ages 4-8
Also read and recommended by: Sherry Early
Charlotte Zolotow, in this sweet picture book, tells a simple story of a young girl who asks Mr. Rabbit for help. She needs a gift for her mother's birthday. Mr. Rabbit discovers that the mother loves red, yellow, green and blue, but since you really can't give a person colors, he helps the girl find pieces of fruit - apples, bananas, pears, and blue grapes. I like the repitition of the story line sequence and the satisfying ending.
The illustrations by Maurice Sendak are full-page and full-color. Painted in muted tones with just enough details for young children, the pictures perfectly match the sweetness of the story line. When I think of Sendak, I usually think of Where the Wild Things Are. The illustrations in that book are lively, bold, and a tad bit scary. Not so here in Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present.
The Sun is a Golden Earring
By: Natalia M. Belting
Illustrated by: Bernarda Bryson
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Some say the sun is a golden earring; others say the winds are made by great birds flapping their wings. Such were the thoughts of men when they first looked in Yonder at the heavens. Out of this wondering came rich and poetic images, collected here from around the world by an eminent folklorist, who has woven these sayings into a testament of man’s eternal fascination with the firmament.
Bernarda Bryson is a rare artist who has captured the spirit of this extraordinary collection with sensitivity. The sayings men dreamed around the stars, the lightning, the winds are subtly yet brilliantly reflected in her drawings.
From the dust jacket
