Each a Piece - Hardcover

Brooks, Bruce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060235942 ISBN 13: 9780060235949

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 1998

An exploration of the concept that everything is a part of something bigger pieces together antique Victorian memorabilia so that each detail is revealed to be a fragment of another.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly:

In his first picture book, Brooks (What Hearts?) serves up a disjointed text, which is overwhelmed by debut artist Pavlov's nostalgic collages of Victorian illustrations. The hand-sized book, jacketed with a frosty transparent cover, resembles a vellum-covered Victorian volume. Phrases like "a piece of the moon/ a part of the sky" and "the sunlight that shone/ long ago in the day" seem to refer to snippets of memories and yet pose riddles. The art, showing angelic, sailor-suited boys and pinafored girls with English rose complexions, is a pastiche of nursery-room motifs, from sweet kittens and dogs to building blocks and dollhouses. The text suggests that readers must fill in the context for the disparate images: "Each piece is a part/ of more left to find/ and whatever's missing?/ is all in your mind." Pavlov works hard to supply the connective tissue?cutouts show a view into a dollhouse; the illustration for "each piece is a part" reveals that the crescent moon on the first spread is actually part of a mobile?but there's a lot more buildup than delivery here. This novelty item may appeal to collectors of Victoriana, but for others, it will be a conundrum. All ages.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Brooks's rhyming text is intended to express the idea that everything is part of something larger, but it sounds like an outtake from the song "Windmills of Your Mind." The illustrations are computer-generated collages made from Victorian prints and cards, and show a boy and girl at various pastimes and a dollhouse that seems to contain another living boy and girl. Two pages have cutouts that show the children looking into the dollhouse, a novelty that doesn't seem integral to the book. The illustrations are charming in a saccharine way, but it's unlikely that young readers will take a fancy to them. Istvan Banyai's Zoom and Re-Zoom (both Viking, 1995) are illustrated with colorful and detailed line drawings showing how perception changes depending on one's vantage point; they are more creative in concept. Sally Noll's Watch Where You Go (Puffin, 1993) has photographs of a mouse exploring objects that turn out to be different from what they seem at first glance; the mouse gives that book greater child appeal. This ...Piece is not an essential purchase.
Pam Gosner, formerly at Maplewood Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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