My Shadow - Softcover

Stevenson, Robert Louis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1567921086 ISBN 13: 9781567921083

Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher, 1989

Synopsis

The poems in Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses have been popular ever since the its first appearance more than one hundred years ago, and none more so than My Shadow, a traditional favorite for reading aloud. Glenna Lang has created a visual narrative depicting the journey of a young girl through a dream nightscape with her shadow companion. Beautifully true to the sense and spirit of the poem, the illustrations add their own grace and rich atmosphere to the popular work. This edition of My Shadow is a wonderful way to enjoy an old favorite bedtime poem with the youngest child.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson was a celebrity during his lifetime and remains one of the most widely read and translated authors in the world. His dozens of books include perennial classics such as Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and A Child's Garden of Verses. Born in Scotland, he traveled extensively in Europe, America, and the South Pacific, adventures which feature prominently in his work. He died in Samoa at the age of forty-four. Glenna Lang has illustrated four classic poems for children with Godine. She wrote and illustrated the award-winning Looking Out for Sarah. Although she grew up in New York City, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and teaches at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2 --Stevenson's poem plays with the concept of "shadow" as a physical phenomenon, and even hints at a psychological dimension to the shadow self, who is called a "coward," evokes disgrace ("I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!"), and "can only make a fool of" the speaker. Lang's flat acrylic paintings eliminate natural shadows and reduce volumes to shapes--as shadows do. The problem with the illustrations is conceptual. Although the flap copy asserts that the heroine travels through "a dream nightscape," there are no internal cues to differentiate the dream setting from the real one. In her pajamas, the heroine might be having a late stroll, or an early one. A sliver of moon confusingly does all the work of shadow-making, until the last line, when the heroine emerges "very early, before the sun was up" into a world as bright as midday but mysteriously shadowless (while the noontime shrinkage of shadows cited in the text has occurred at midnight). The book not only does disservice to Stevenson's verse but also badly muddles the principles of shadow casting. --Patricia Dooley, University of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 1567921086
• ISBN 13: 9781567921083
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Lang Glenna