Matthew's Meadow

Bliss, Corinne Demas; Lewin, Ted; Demas, Corinne; Bliss, Corinne D.

ISBN 10: 0152007598 ISBN 13: 9780152007591

Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books, 1992

Synopsis

A red-tailed hawk teaches Matthew to open his senses to the natural world in a special meadow cleared by Matthew's grandmother so she could have a place in the forest where a she could see the sky.

About this title

About the Author

Ted Lewin grew up in Buffalo, New York, with two brothers, one sister, two parents, a lion, an iguana, and a chimpanzee. He became interested in art as a young boy when he would draw his brothers' world of wrestling. Ted later worked as a professional wrestler to finance his studies at the Pratt Institute of Fine Arts, where he met his wife, Betsy Lewin, also a children's book writer and illustrator. He and his wife travel around the world to research the settings for their books. While working on SACRED RIVER, which he both wrote and illustrated, Ted joined thousands of Hindus on their pilgrimage to the banks of the Ganges River in Benares, India. Ted now lives and works in the brownstone he shares with his wife and their two cats in Brooklyn, New York. For more information visit www.tedlewin.com.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4-- In this simple ecological story, Bliss presents difficult concepts in a straightforward, but poetic text. It is not a book that children will pick up and read; rather, it is one to be shared with an adult. Matthew considers the meadow above his family's farm to be his own special place where he can lie in the long, soft grass observing nature and think of his deceased grandmother. From his ninth year, when he first observes a red-tailed hawk through field glasses, to his sixteenth, he establishes a ritual visit to the spot at blackberry time. On each occasion the hawk seems to speak to him, helping him to appreciate the natural world. When he is an adult, the land has become a part of his experience, and he is able to feel the continuity of things from one generation to the next. Lewin's soft watercolor paintings deftly incorporate the message of the text, showing the meadow from a variety of perspectives. Several exceptionally fine, full-page paintings of boy and bird exhibit the same mystical quality that is found in the text. Aside from the vehicle of the talking hawk, the book's thought-provoking content provides food for discussion. Although informational books on ecology are becoming more numerous, insightful books such as this one are few. Use it with titles by Jeannie Baker, Joanne Ryder, and others to present an overview of humanity's relationship to the Earth that can heighten a child's awareness of the scheme of things. --Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0152007598
• ISBN 13: 9780152007591
• Binding: Library Binding