Last Song - Hardcover

Guthrie, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1596435089 ISBN 13: 9781596435087

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, 2010

Synopsis

Beautiful watercolor paintings add rich layers of mood and feeling to an old Scottish poem, depicting a squirrel family spending the day together―waking, playing, and nestling down to sleep under the eye of watchful parent. An eye-catching die-cut cover and a size perfect for small hands make an irresistible gift for mothers, fathers, and families on any occasion.

About this title

About the Author

Scottish-born JAMES GUTHRIE (1874–1952) was an artist, typographer, printer, and poet.

ERIC ROHMANN won the Caldecott Medal for My Friend Rabbit, and a Caldecott Honor for Time Flies. He is also the author and illustrator of Clara and Asha, A Kitten Tale, and The Cinder-Eyed Cats, among other books for children. He has created book jackets for a number of novels, including His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman.

Rohmann was born in Riverside, Illinois, in 1957. He grew up in Downers Grove, a suburb of Chicago. As a boy, he played Little League baseball, read comic books, and collected rocks and minerals, insects, leaves, and animal skulls.

Rohmann has his BS in Art and an MS in Studio Art from Illinois State University, and an MFA in Printmaking/Fine Bookmaking from Arizona State University. He also studied Anthropology and Biology. He taught printmaking, painting, and fine bookmaking at Belvoir Terrace in Massachusettes and introductory drawing, fine bookmaking, and printmaking at St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

He lives in a suburb of Chicago.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 2–Readers peek through the thick cover's cut-out of a heavily leafed oak tree to spy a mother with two young squirrels, all bundled in sleep as dawn breaks. Guthrie (1874-1952) wrote the four line poem that serves as the entire text: “To the sun/Who has shone/All day,/To the moon/Who has gone/Away,/To the milk-white/Silk-white/lily-white star,/A fond goodnight/Wherever you are.” Rohmann glides the squirrels from treetops to tumble, limb frolic, then star gaze. A gorgeous play of light carefully tends to the day's progression, alternating wordless scenes with those accompanied by a single line of text. The variety of perspectives adds to the depth of this small book's paintings, which honor the Scottish author's verse.Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA
© Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Caldecott Medalist Rohmann tenderly interprets a 30-word poem by Scotsman James Guthrie in this attractive offering with a small, easily held trim size and a die-cut cover. One bright day, two squirrels bounce out of their tree to frolic in the meadow, but after the sky darkens, they return home again, where another, parental squirrel awaits them. The watercolor artwork is warm and sweet but never cloying, and it pairs well with the rhythm of the poem, closing with the narrator’s quiet call: “To the milk-white / Silk-white / Lily-white star, / A fond goodnight / Wherever you are.” The brevity and calmness of the words make this a good just-one-more book at bedtime, and the depictions of the circle of family love and the cycle of the day will inspire many just-one-more kisses before the lights go out. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Andrew Medlar

Edition details

• Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1596435089
• ISBN 13: 9781596435087
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Rohmann Eric
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 28