From a Distance

Julie Gold's Grammy-winning song "From a Distance" carries a message of hope in a troubled world that touches a universal chord. It has been performed and recorded by many top artists, including Nanci Griffith, Bette Midler, and the Byrds, and has been translated into several different languages. Now acclaimed illustrator Jane Ray interprets this inspirational folk hymn with dazzling brilliance and keen sensitivity.

Through intricate watercolors, the illustrator constructs a story in which discord and disunity are counterbalanced by a promise of peace and harmony. Her lush, distinctive folk-art style is ideally suited to the spare poetic text that explores the space between the world as it should be--the untarnished creation--and the world as it is--a place where war and injustice often prevail. The lavish illustrations paint an ultimately joyous and life-affirming vision. The result is a book as moving and uplifting as the song itself.

With subject matter both timely and timeless--the expression of hope in a troubled world--and illustrations universal and yet evocative of the recent ethnic wars in Eastern Europe, this beautiful book will be cherished by people everywhere, young and old.

Folk art and folk music join in two-part harmony in this attractive picture book adaptation of song lyrics, made famous on recordings by Nanci Griffith and Bette Midler. The words convey a utopian vision of a world where people can live in peace, concentrating on their similarities rather than their differences: "From a distance/ You look like my friend/ Even though we are at war." Reminding readers that "God is watching us from a distance," Gold also urges adherence to a common morality. Ray (The Story of Christmas) makes the most of Gold's ideas of near and far perspective, creating intricate, creamy-hued paintings that are more conceptual than her previous works and tell a distinct story of their own. With each turn of the page, the scenes become increasingly focused and detailedAan effect akin to working a camera's zoom lens. Beginning at a lush, yet universal mountaintop community, Ray homes in on a particular village, depicting families in strife as soldiers and refugees march through the streets and military helicopters whir overhead; two girls pictured together in a window become the aforementioned friends who view each other "from a distance." When army tanks roll away from the bombed village, its residents find the strength to rebuild, and the friends are reunited. An appreciation by singer-musician Griffith concludes this uplifting, elegantly designed volume. All ages. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A song made famous by a host of singers has become a picture book that well suits the lyric's eloquent plea for universal peace and understanding. Based on a utopian vision of what the world could and should be like, the intricate folk-art drawings show the earth, first from a great distance, then increasingly closer and more intimately. As the text shifts from describing scenes of harmony and plenty to more ominous images of war and want, the illustrations depict troubled faces in the windows of homes and military activity in the background. The spare text and powerful images work in accord to provide educators and parents with a book that can be used to stimulate discussion of many different issues. (Picture book. 7-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

What all this war is for...."-Liza Graybill, Worcester Public Library, MA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.