Big Momma Makes the World (BOSTON GLOBEHORN BOOK AWARDS (AWARDS)) - Hardcover

Root, Phyllis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763611328 ISBN 13: 9780763611323

Publisher: Candlewick, 2002

Synopsis

Powerful, warm, and utterly original, this no-nonsense tall tale of Big Momma the creator is a jubilant celebration of our beautiful world - and a reminder to take good care of it.


"Earth," said Big Momma, "Get over here."
And it did.
All one big ball of mud it was,
nothing much to look at.
Baby liked it all right just the way it was,
but Big Momma wasn’t finished yet.

When Big Momma makes the world, she doesn’t mess around. With a little baby on her hip and laundry piling up, she demands light and dark, earth and sky, creepers and crawlers, and lots of folks to trade stories with on the front porch. And when the work is done, Big Momma, she is pleased all right. "That’s good," she says. "That’s real good."

With down-home language and infectious rhythms, storyteller Phyllis Root spins a creation myth like no other, brilliantly illustrated by the incomparable Helen Oxenbury.

About this title

About the Author:

Phyllis Root has written many books for children, including Oliver Finds His Way, What Baby Wants, Rattletrap Car, and Kiss the Cow! She says that the idea for Big Momma Makes the World came from a long-ago family car trip through the West. "My children were restless, yet fascinated by the unfamiliar scenery. They made up stories about why the landscape looked the way it did, and God and a baby were in lots of the stories." Phyllis Root lives in Minnesota with her two daughters.

Helen Oxenbury is one of today’s most acclaimed illustrators. Among her books are Lewis Carroll’s ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, which won a Kate Greenaway Medal; Trish Cooke’s SO MUCH; Martin Waddell’s FARMER DUCK; and Michael Rosen’s WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT. She says of working on BIG MOMMA MAKES THE WORLD, "As I read Phyllis’s text, I imagined Big Momma as part Buddha, part housewife. . . . It was intimidating to create a whole world, but very enjoyable."

From Booklist:

PreS-Gr. 2. A raucous, joyous version of the creation story starring a big, bossy woman who knows what she wants and how to get it: "When Big Momma made the world, she didn't mess around." Down in the infinite water, her naked little baby on her hip, she sees what needs to be done: "Light," says Big Momma. "And you'd better believe there was light." She also creates dark on the first day, and for the next five days she's one busy lady. Sky, sun, moon, earth, flora, and fauna--there's so much to do, and after she does it, Big Momma always says approvingly, "That's good. That's real good." On the seventh day she rests, leaving the world to its own devices, though sometimes she looks down and tells her final creation--humans--that they'd "better straighten up." Sometimes, when she and baby look down, they like what they see. Root's text is strong and sassy, with a down-home cadence that has immediate appeal, and Oxenbury's Big Momma is the perfect embodiment of the story's earth mother--no particular race or color, just full of affection and determination. Some of the pictures are wonderful (a double-page spread of animals bursting out of the sun); some, such as the one of modern-day humans looking up at the sky, are more mundane. Yet overall, this is an exciting, new version of one of the world's oldest stories. And the baby is pretty cute, too. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0763611328
• ISBN 13: 9780763611323
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 48
• Illustrator: Oxenbury Helen