A Piece of String Is a Wonderful Thing (Read and Wonder)

A fun-filled collection of rousing verse traces the evolution of string through history--from rawhide strips to three-ply rope, and from ancient Egypt to modern times--all accompanied by colorful illustrations depicting various uses for string.

Kindergarten-Grade 3-- Jolly, cartoon-style illustrations in inks, watercolors, gouache, and acrylics, filled with active little people and animals, swoop and curl appropriately across the pages to show how important strings, ropes, cables, chains, straps, thongs, and the like have been throughout the ages. Even sinews, or "living strings," are included. The concept is interesting and entertaining, but the execution is confusing, nonchronological, and cluttered. After a jumbled introductory page, the time jumps back 2.5 million years to ancient man and then proceeds forward by fits and starts, often detailing totally unrelated events. A sprightly but haphazard text extols stringy things throughout--sometimes it rhymes, but not always, and the mood changes from serious to humorous. Sometimes, it has no connection to the pictures that accompany it. Despite the charm of the separate elements, the whole is a disjointed informational overload that often loses its focus. --Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.