Night Sounds, Morning Colors - Hardcover

Wells, Rosemary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803713010 ISBN 13: 9780803713017

Publisher: Dial, 1994

Synopsis

A child explores the senses by reflecting on experiences associated with the seasons

About this title

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 2-In several short "chapters," a young boy describes moments in which he experiences the sensations of smell, color, sound, taste, and touch. He wakes up before sunrise, eats biscuits and honey, celebrates his mother's birthday with a cake made by his grandmother, and takes a winter walk with an older brother. The incidents are related in spare, blank verse without much plotting, and are illustrated in sometimes surrealistic, always impressionistic full-page opaque acrylic paintings. The child lives in a rural area-setting and time are not specified. The dark, richly colored interiors, the variety of earth tones, and the subtle lighting of the boy's figure emphasize the sensuousness of his experiences; the frame around each picture focuses the eye and the event, isolating and intensifying it. While there's not much story here, the feelings are deeply felt, true to life, comforting, and invigorating.
Ruth K. MacDonald, Bay Path College, Longmeadow, MA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Divided into four vignettes, a child's first-person narration offers an appreciation of the senses and the seasons. One morning, the youngster sees a spiderweb, in the mist "loaded with emerald raindrops"; the sun shining through the window onto a stream of "gold honey"; and just-planted violets ("so bright in their deep black earth that my mother is sure they are laughing and singing"). Evening sounds heard by the narrator include Grandpa reading a story ("His quiet voice rolls up and down like ocean waves"); a spoon clinking and chocolate sauce dripping as the boy's mother makes an ice cream sundae; and his father humming a bedtime song. Grandma's preparations for Mother's birthday dinner yield numerous appealing smells and tastes; and a winter walk brings encounters with a cold icicle, a prickly thorn bush, a soft feather and an itchy sweater. Wells's (the Max and Ruby books) well-chosen images effectively convey the power of sensory experience. While McPhail (Farm Boy's Year; Santa's Book of Names) takes liberties with traditional proportion and scale and gets occasionally unfortunate results, his acrylic paintings successfully conjure up an intimate view of a child's world. Ages 2-6.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4-7. A collection of episodes rather than a single story, Wells' latest book is a loving family portrait and a celebration of the senses as presented through the experiences of a young boy. It's ordinary things that give the child pleasure: dappled sunlight filtering through the kitchen window, Father humming him to sleep, the "secret smell of old leather" when he holds his grandmother's wallet, the feel of an icicle that melts in his hand. Wells' quiet but vivid descriptions burst forth beautifully through McPhail's rich, acrylic paintings, which are bolder than his usual work. Colors dance in a play with light and shadow, and thickly applied paint and visible brush strokes add intensity and warmth to the telling. Stephanie Zvirin

Edition details

• Publisher: Dial
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803713010
• ISBN 13: 9780803713017
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: McPhail David
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32