Somewhere

Describes in verse and illustrations some of the many wonders of nature occurring around the world at one moment in time

PreSchool-Grade 1?With its simple rhyme and bold, full-color scratchboard illustrations, this celebration of the natural world's beauty and variety should have no trouble finding an appreciative audience. In her brief text?just two lines per spread?Baskwill employs a metaphysical tone: "Somewhere in the raindrop,/ A rainbow forms from light;/ Somewhere in the darkness,/ A star lights up the night...Somewhere on the planet,/ Every minute day or night,/ Something marvelous happens..." Though Hill uses a fussy, multistep technique, her illustrations are simplified natural scenes, each viewed from a different angle and composed with strong visual centers: a falling leaf, a sounding whale's tail, a mother bird facing her newly hatched chick. Use this book to cap or introduce more developed explorations of the theme, such as Charlotte Zolotow's When the Wind Stops (HarperCollins, 1995), with knockout illustrations by Stefano Vitale.?John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Somewhere in the raindrop,/ A rainbow forms from light;/ Somewhere in the darkness,/ A star lights up the night." Each stanza of Baskwill's poem visits one of nature's niches and highlights a typical aspect. Some verses intrigue ("Somewhere in the ocean,/ A whale echoes a sound"); many are banal (a leaf falls "somewhere in the forest"). Couched in smooth rhymes and a consistent cadence, this exploration coasts from phenomenon to phenomenon without building momentum or giving the reader much cause for contemplation. Hill's (What Makes a Bird a Bird?) chalk and scratchboard illustrations use varying perspectives to encourage readers to study nature's details, but depart from realism with their overbright exposures and cotton-candy-colored accents. For all the emphasis on the "wonder" and "delight" of nature, the book transmits no sense of discovery. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.