In Coal Country: (Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book, New York Times Notable Book of the Year and Best Illustrated Book of the Year) (Dragonfly Books) - Softcover

Hendershot, Judith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679834796 ISBN 13: 9780679834793

Publisher: Dragonfly Books, 1992

Synopsis

Illus. in full color. "Through the eyes of the little girl who is narrating, we see memories of her childhood in coal country. The immediate ingredients in her life--family, school, friends, and holidays--are described lovingly. The power of the book, however, lies in the deep, dark counterpoint that underlies the light melody of the childhood reminiscence. Though the text is spare, the dark, eloquent pictures speak volumes."--(starred) Horn Book.  

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-4In Coal Country offers such an authentic picture of growing up gritty that you almost expect it to rub off on your hands. Like William Kurelek's ``Prairie Boy'' books (Houghton), it is a record of experience, a piece of social history, a memorial to a time and place, rather than a story in the Aristotelian sense. The narrator simply describes, in a plain, terse style, what it was like to grow up in coal country in the '30s (or earlier): how it looked and smelled, how her parents worked and her friends playedbut not what they thought or felt. The quotidian excitement of coal-hauling trains and the annual climax of Christmasa day off for her miner fatherprovide mild high points. Like the text, the chalk-on-textured-board pictures temper abstract simplicity with Depresssion-era details to create a slice-of-life evocation of a past in every way the obverse of fairytale romance. Patricia Dooley, formerly at Drexel University, Philadelphia
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Hendershot's evocative first-person narration and Allen's beautifully muted, scumbled artwork blend to form a gentle, moving tribute. All ages.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dragonfly Books
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0679834796
• ISBN 13: 9780679834793
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 355