North Country Spring - Hardcover

Lindbergh, Reeve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395828198 ISBN 13: 9780395828199

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 1997

Synopsis

The running of rivers, the wild geese returning, the bear cubs stepping out, and the peepers singing - this is the arrival of spring in the north country. Join all manner of north country animals as they respond in their own unique ways to the slow vanishing of the cold, dark winter. Reeve Lindbergh's verse captures the empowering voice of spring in language both poetic and precise, while Liz Sivertson's paintings are as spirited and free as the north itself. Together, poet and painter celebrate the wildness and beauty of a season that can never come too soon.

About this title

About the Authors

Reeve Lindbergh, a daughter of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, is the author of "The Names of the Mountains" and "The View from the Kingdom". Her books for children include "Johnny Appleseed", "The Day the Goose Got Loose", and "The Midnight Farm". Reviewers have described her writing as "poetic and carefully crafted" with "imagery that is direct and honest". Reeve Lindbergh lives with her husband, their children, and an assortment of animals, wild and otherwise, in northern Vermont.

Liz Sivertson makes her picture book debut with "North Country Spring". Her distinctive acrylic paintings appear regularly in galleries in norther Minnesota. She lives on the north shore of Lake Superior, close to the homes of wolves, moose, otters, and other wild, elusive creatures.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2. Lindbergh uses her now familiar poetic style of rhythmic rhymed couplets to invoke the "song of spring." Spring's voice sends an invitation to the natural world, "Come out, come out." The bouncing playful text successfully echoes the energy and rebirth of the season, but it is the bright vivid paintings that truly convey its exuberance. Richly colored acrylics portray life bursting forth after a frozen winter. An imaginative and effective use of color, line, and movement creates striking images of tumbling bears, splashing otters, prowling wolves, a swooping owl, and more. This literary and visual celebration is a jubilee of color. Besides offering enjoyment, it has lots of potential curriculum uses.?Heide Piehler, Shorewood Public Library, WI
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lindbergh (Nobody Owns the Sky, 1996, etc.) personifies spring as a voice ``deep as the river and high as a bird,'' calling all things in the north woods to awaken and begin--foxes and frogs, wild ducks and wolves, buds, bats, and bears. Rhymed couplets attempt to entice readers long cold, but fail to fully evoke the senses or engage the emotions. ``Swoop out, swift bat, flutter fast, flitter-flit./Snatch a moth on the wing; make a meal of it.'' The text bursts, leaps, tumbles, and wiggles, but never captures the anticipation and explosion of the season. In her debut, Sivertson turns animals and landscapes into impressionistic shapes of color with undelineated features, motif-like in their primitive forms. They whirl and swirl against textured canvases thick with paint, more pattern in motion than still life or scenery. The art is powerful and accomplished on its own, but in this context acts as a filter between the emotions summoned by the already straining text and readers. A glossary of ``Animal Notes'' provides brief facts about the creatures mentioned in the text. (Picture book. 4-7) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 5^-7. Using rhymed couplets and vivid imagery, Lindbergh describes the changes that occur in nature as spring approaches the northern regions of the U.S. Snow melts, causing overflowing brooks; trees burst with leaves; and all manner of animals and people awaken to spring pursuits. Sivertson's brightly colored acrylic paintings convey the exuberance expressed in the text, though their impressionistic style will be best viewed from a story hour distance. The appended animal notes, detailing specific behaviors for each of the animals portrayed, will be useful for primary science units; middle-school language arts students will find this a springboard for writing seasonal poetry. Kay Weisman

Edition details

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395828198
• ISBN 13: 9780395828199
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Sivertson Liz
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32