From Here to There - Hardcover

Cuyler, Margery

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080503191X ISBN 13: 9780805031911

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 1999

Synopsis

A little girl travels from the comforts of her own home to the far reaches of the universe. The journey begins in Maria's house and then moves outward to the street, town, country, continent, hemisphere, planet, solar system, galaxy, and, finally, the universe. With each new widening perspective, children can explore the vastness of the world around them as they discover their own special place in space.

Margery Cuyler's accessible text and Yu Cha Pak's richly detailed illustrations offer an intriguing introduction to geography and astronomy for the youngest armchair traveler.

About this title

About the Author:

Margery Cuyler is the author of many books for children, including The Little Dump Truck, That's Good! That's Bad!, and the chapter book Weird Wolf. Ms. Cuyler grew up in the oldest house in Princeton, NJ, and started writing stories as soon as she learned how to write. She now lives in the same house with her husband, sons and two cats.

Yu Cha Pak was born in Seoul, Korea, where she studied classical Oriental art before immigrating to the United States. Ms. Pak is the illustrator of Benito's Dream Bottle, by Naomi Shihab Nye. She lives in Houston, Texas.

From Publishers Weekly:

Pak (Benito's Dream Bottle) endows Cuyler's (The Biggest, Best Snowman) brief text with stellar dimensions in this heartfelt picture book. As the narrative begins, "My name is Maria Mendoza," the artist cleverly interprets the words as the beginning of a letter Maria composes at a desk to an unseen recipient. Over the course of the next 13 gorgeously rendered full-bleed spreads, young Maria describes her family ("I live with my father, my mother, my baby brother Tony..."), her street address, town, county, state, etc., finally concluding with "in the universe and beyond." Like a photographer, Pak shifts the perspective: as Maria mentions her family, the illustration reveals an intimate kitchen scene in which her father prepares vegetables and her mother reads a book to the baby (Maria is just visible through an open door); similar details of the girl's town and state unfold in succeeding spreads (bluebonnets, an armadillo, oil rigs and more dot a drawing of Texas). While Maria's address ends in the vastness of space, the book itself does not. Instead, Pak brings readers full circle to a closing view of Maria at her window, gazing out at a world that seems both expansive and enveloping. "From here to there," the text quietly affirms, "my name is Maria Mendoza." The artist's warmly rendered domestic scenes bring to mind contemporary Latin American art. As the geographic scale of the artwork widens, the compositions become simpler and bolder, culminating with a stunning panorama of space. This enlightening journey is both a meditation on humanity's small place in the universe and a celebration of each person's immutable individuality. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 080503191X
• ISBN 13: 9780805031911
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Pak Yu Cha