Kinderdike - Hardcover

Fisher, Leonard Everett

3.5

6 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0027353656 ISBN 13: 9780027353655

Publisher: Atheneum, 1994

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Retells the story of the founding of Kinderdike, a town in southern Holland whose name--meaning "the children's dike"--comes from the discovery of a baby and a kitten, found alive on a dike following a devastating flood.

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From Publishers Weekly:

Exceptionally powerful illustrations honor the Dutch hamlet of Kinderdike, which, according to legend, was named after a baby who was found alive and well on a dike, having survived a fearful storm that caused enormous damage. The rhyming text is vacuous and the diction can be murky ("Here villagers fished in the summer parch. / Here they skated from December to March"), but the boldly colored acrylic paintings conjure up emotion and texture, adding real depth to the history of the town and its dike. With a more dynamic style than in many of his previous books ( Little's Frog's Song ; Jason and the Golden Fleece ), Fisher creates breathtaking views of canals and dikes, stunning for their simple graphics and dextrous use of light. Windmills spread their sails against a sky of constantly changing colors. Sumptuous hues convey fields of spring flowers, traditional clogs and clothing, small bridges over "criss-crossed canals" and, in one splendid painting, a rush of ice skaters, scarves streaming in the wind. The emotional landscape turns gray as the chaos of the storm whirls in, and shadows predominate until life is renewed once more, an affirmation underscored by a return to the triumphantly sunny palette. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Inspired by a recent visit to Holland, Fisher has written and illustrated this poem as a tribute to the small Dutch town. Rebuilt after a devastating flood in 1421, the town was renamed to reflect the discovery of a baby and a kitten on one of its dikes after the storm. The double-page acrylic paintings are clearly the focus of the book. Featuring striking, heavily shaded, jewel tones of color against grays, ochres, and blues of sky and sea, they present the simple story far more successfully than the forced rhyme. Scenes show the villagers fishing, ice skating, and rebuilding their town, as well as closeups of the large windmills built to pump water away from the seawall and avert another catastrophe. More a tidbit of social history than a folktale, Kinderdike will be best appreciated by children old enough to have an awareness of the damaging capabilities of ravaging storms and of the existence of other cultures. Unfortunately, its minimal text and picture-book format will appeal more to a younger audience.
Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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