Window - Softcover

Jeannie Baker

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0744594863 ISBN 13: 9780744594867

Publisher: Walker Childrens Paperbacks, 2002

Synopsis

A wordless, visually compelling look at our changing environment, featured on a government reading list for schools. A mother and baby look through a window at a view of wilderness and sky as far as the eye can see. With each page, the boy grows and the scene changes. At first, in a clear patch of forest, a single house appears. A few years pass and there is a village in the distance. By the time the boy is twenty, the village has developed into a city. The young man gets married, has a child of his own and moves to the country, where father and child look through the window of their new home at the undeveloped wilderness outside. Illustrated with elaborate and gorgeous collage constructions, Window is a wordless picture book that speaks volumes.

About this title

About the Author:

Jeannie Baker is the author and illustrator of a number of children's picture books, including the award-winning Where the Forest Meets the Sea and the critically acclaimed picture book, Mirror. Her characteristic use of mixed media to create detailed and elaborate collages is stunning and unique. Born in England, Jeannie now lives in Sydney, Australia. Find her online at www.jeanniebaker.com.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1 Up-- A mother, holding her newborn son, gazes out the window of his room at lush vegetation, tropical birds, a pond, a kangaroo. Ten double-page illustrations following show the development--during a 20-year period--of the area outside the window. As Sam (the baby) grows older, the land is cleared, a road is built, then a farm. A housing development goes up, then takes over a hill that was once green with lush growth. Development becomes suburb, then city, complete with billboards, high-rises, noise pollution, litter, and overpopulation. Sam marries and moves to a new house in the country, where the final window scene shows him, holding his baby, staring at a sign announcing, "House Blocks For Sale". Words are unnecessary, as Baker's carefully rendered collage scenes explicitly detail the situation. Varying symbolic objects on Sam's windowsill (and the cracking and peeling of paint on the wall) add to the book's message. Baker's meticulous collages, formed from natural materials, clay, fabric, and real hair, are so detailed that they require many viewings. A final, short author's note explains the inspiration for the book: ". . .by understanding and changing the way we personally affect the environment, we can make a difference." This unusual, exceptionally well-crafted picture book might be a good way to begin. --Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Childrens Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0744594863
• ISBN 13: 9780744594867
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32