Red Ribbon/With Cassette and Ribbon - Hardcover

Weeks, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060254300 ISBN 13: 9780060254308

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1995

Synopsis

A ground-breaking package--which contains a red ribbon and instructions on how to wear it--that delicately explores the subject of AIDS. When a little girl becomes concerned about her neighbor's failing health, her mother buys her a red ribbon and explains the ribbon's meaning. The song is a simple statement of a child's concern, regret and hope. Full color.

About this title

From the Publisher:

When a little girl becomes concerned about her neighbor's failing health ("What kind of sickness have you got/That made you get so old so fast?"), her mother buys her a red ribbon, which the child immediately puts in her hair. Her mother explains what the ribbon means, and shows her how to wear it. (The package comes with a real red ribbon and instructions on how to wear it.)

With dignity and sensitivity, Sarah Weeks writes of a disease that has had an impact on us all. The song is a simple statement of a child's concern, regret and hope. Weeks' voice has been compared to "a feather on a breeze" in her debut book-and-cassette album, Crocodile Smile: Ten Songs of the Earth As the Animals See It. Jeffrey Greene's sumptuous pastels express the warmth of the Christmas season when the girl's thoughts extend beyond her family to another's less happy holiday.

A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to God's Love We Deliver, a non-profit organization that delivers hot, nutritious meals, free of charge, to people homebound with AIDS, and The Bridge for Kids/Un puente para ninos, a non-profit organization that provides free respite care and summer camp to children affected by AIDS in the San Francisco area.

From Publishers Weekly:

A sober subject and bouncy tune make a curious pairing in this book-and-cassette package from singer/songwriter Weeks (Crocodile Smile; Follow the Moon). Written in the voice of eight-year-old Jenny, the song addresses a neighbor suffering from AIDS. The pivotal question here ("My name is Jenny-I talk a lot./ I watch the neighbors hurrying past./ What kind of sickness have you got/ That made you get so old so fast?") is never answered directly. Rather, Jenny's mother gives her a red ribbon and shows her how to fold it and pin it on her shirt; a red ribbon is also included in this package. Whenever the child asks after their ill neighbor, Mama shakes her head and says, "There's nothing they can do." But, as the illustrations reveal, Jenny wraps up her treasures (a seashell, feathers, a lucky penny), delivers them to the man's door and vows that she will wear her ribbon each day, "And I'll think of you." Greene's (Just My Dad & Me) affecting, realistic paintings help amplify Weeks's vague lyrics, but adults will clearly have to provide some explanations. For a more thoughtful picture book about AIDS, see Leslea Newman's Too Far Away to Touch (Children's Forecasts, Feb. 6). Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0060254300
• ISBN 13: 9780060254308
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Greene Jeffrey