We Got Here Together

A simple text and collage illustrations present the story of a father's extraordinary bedtime story, told to his daughter, about a raindrop from the sky, a bubble from the ocean, and how we all got here, together.

Kindergarten-Grade 2-A book with beautiful art, but the story makes little sense. A young girl gets settled in bed while her father tells her a tale about a small fish in the deepest ocean who lets a bubble go. It travels upward and expands until it reaches the surface and becomes the sky. At the same time, a raindrop forms in the sky and starts its journey down to Earth, and when it lands, becomes the ocean. Frasier's collage art, made from patterned papers dyed in a traditional Japanese resist process known as shibori, is outstanding. The delicate, irregular blues produce a stunning effect. If you buy books just for their artwork, this is a fine choice. But if you want a decent story, too, look elsewhere.
Dot Minzer, North Barrington School, Barrington, IL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Tucking his child into bed--underneath a patchwork quilt--a father begins the story of a bubble that is released from the mouth of a fish deep in the ocean at exactly the same moment that a raindrop falls from a cloud high over the ocean. The quilt metamorphoses into sky and ocean in Frasier's ( On the Day You Were Born ) sumptuous collages--ingeniously created from patterned papers dyed in the shibori style, a Japanese resist process traditionally used on cloth. The bubble travels upwards through the water as the raindrop descends, "spinning dizzy down, sliding along the shoulder of the wind, tumbling toward that silver field of water." When the two shimmering silver objects finally meet, "The bubble opened and was the whole sky. The raindrop opened and was the whole ocean." As sky and sea swirl back into the pattern of the quilt, Stafford's graceful lullaby turns its attention to "you and I," ending on a comforting note: "We got here together, too, didn't we? We got here safe, in the silver light, where we belong." With both illustrations and words delicately balancing the simple and the elaborate, this is an elegant bedtime story. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-5. Dynamic compositions draw attention to a slight bedtime story that attempts an analogy between a bubble from a small ocean fish and a raindrop from a large cloud (made from silver metallic paper) and a father and his young daughter. Textile artists will recognize the shibori style Japanese resist process (similar to batik) used to create beautiful textured papers in rich indigo streaked with white. Combined with bold geometric patterns in bright primary colors, these cut-paper compositions have an incredible sense of rhythm and movement. Graphic design at its best. Julie Corsaro