In Every Tiny Grain of Sand - Hardcover

Lindbergh Reeve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0744540887 ISBN 13: 9780744540888

Publisher: Walker Childrens Hardbacks, 2000

Synopsis

In 1999 Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the famed aviator and author, moved from her home in Connecticut to the farm in Vermont where her daughter, Reeve, and Reeve's family live.
Mrs. Lindbergh was in her nineties and had been rendered nearly speechless years earlier by a series of small strokes that also left her frail and dependent on others for her care. No More Words is a moving and compassionate memoir by Reeve Lindbergh of the final seventeen months of her mother's life.
Reeve Lindbergh is an accomplished author who had learned to write in part by reading her mother's many books -- among them the international bestseller Gift from the Sea -- and also by absorbing her mother's careful and intimate way of examining the world around her. So Reeve's inability to communicate with her mother, a woman long recognized in her family and throughout the world as a gifted communicator, left her daughter deeply saddened and frustrated. Worse, from time to time Mrs. Lindbergh would offer a comment or observation that seemed harsh, shocking, or simply unrelated to the events around her, leaving Reeve anxious and distressed about what her mother might be thinking. Anyone who has had to care for an elderly parent disabled by Alzheimer's or stroke will understand immediately the heartache and anguish Reeve suffered.
Reeve writes with great sensitivity and sympathy for her mother's plight, while also analyzing her own conflicting feelings. Mrs. Lindbergh was fortunate to have full-time care, but a tremendous emotional burden still fell on Reeve. And even as she worried about her mother's long silences and enigmatic remarks, and monitored her daily care, Reeve had her husband and son to look after. But mixed with the sadness and responsibility were moments of humor and happiness, and even an eventual understanding, all the more treasured for being so unexpected.
No More Words is a tender tribute from daughter to mother, from one writer to another who was her model and mentor. It is a loving and poignant work, rich with insight into life's final stage.

About this title

Review

"May every creature abound in well-being and peace." (Buddhist)

Around the world and throughout time, people have found words for comfort, strength, rejoicing, and mourning. Prayers, proverbs, poems, songs--every culture has these simple gifts. In this beautiful, oversized volume, Reeve Lindbergh, daughter of Anne Morrow Lindbergh and Charles Lindbergh and author of many picture books, including The Circle of Days, gathers 77 poems and prayers in this warm, lovely collection. Each of the four sections (For the Day, For the Home, For the Earth, and For the Night) is illustrated by a different contemporary artist. Some two-page spreads consist of just one poem with a big, gorgeous illustration swirling all around. Others fit two, three, or even four proverbs or verses, nestled gracefully among the pictures. The book will make a lovely gift for families that want to embrace spirituality in many forms, from Christian to Papago to Jewish to African to Sioux to Hindu to Celtic, and beyond. Featuring well-known prayers and poems (from the Bible and Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass) and less familiar words (from Lao-Tzu and Hildegard of Bingen), this anthology, with its wonderful variety of colorful illustrations, will bring joy and beauty to every home forever and ever. Amen. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author

Christine Davenier, who lives in Paris, says she loved illustrating poems about mountains, the ocean, water, sand, flowers, and stones. "Now I want to move to the country," she says.
Bob Graham says he was drawn to illustrate IN EVERY TINY GRAIN OF SAND by "its generosity of spirit."
Anita Jeram especially enjoyed painting "all of those dark skies, stars, and the moon."
Elisa Kleven says she found the poems in "For the Home" in this anthology "deeply comforting."

Reeve Lindbergh says of IN EVERY TINY GRAIN OF SAND, "It is a joy to see familiar and beloved words from my own childhood come to life again for other children in the presence of such beautiful paintings by four remarkable artists."

Edition details

• Publisher: Walker Childrens Hardbacks
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0744540887
• ISBN 13: 9780744540888
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 77