Right Here on This Spot

In this lyrical homage to humankind's relationship to the land, "this spot" is the farm belonging to the narrator's grandfather, and as Grandpa digs a ditch, he discovers clues to its past. The story of the land begins with the Paleo-Indians of the Ice Age: "Indians in ancient times/ lit a campfire/ on a glacial beach." In Addy's (A Visit with Great-Grandma) stately text, spare language evokes the changes of seasons and of centuries, and sets the stage for the artifacts Grandpa uncovers: a mastodon bone, old Indian arrowheads and a button from a Civil War uniform. Clapp, who exhibited his talent for realistic landscapes with mystical qualities in The Stone Fey, here juxtaposes a realistic painting of Grandpa driving his tractor over the fields with a haunting portrait of the Indians, their faces aglow by firelight, sitting under a full moon. This illustration provides a graceful transition to the next spread of a luminous moon that "rose and set,/ over and over./ Season followed season." Together, text and art smoothly convey the passage of time in this specific area near the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan and chronicle its progression from glacial beach to Civil War battleground to what is now patchwork farmland. Readers never see the child narrator, though the grandfather and grandmother have cameo appearances; the effect of these predominantly unpopulated landscapes creates a feeling of reverence for the book's real main characterAthe land itself. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This impressive picture book shares a history of the land and its people with a grandfather on a tractor drive through his cabbage field. The items that turn up are a chipped stone tool from the time of the mastodon, a lost arrowhead from centuries later, and a Civil War button. The brief main text is lyrical and thoughtful, while the author concludes with a note describing how Paleo-Indians came to the shores of Lake Michigan during the Ice Age; how the Illinois and Potawatomi Indians came after the glaciers melted; and how trappers, frontiersmen, and homesteaders came still later to build the farms and houses still in existence in Wisconsin and Michigan. Soft gray pencil drawings and double-page watercolors amplify the text; Clapp is especially adept at capturing the sweep of sky and the brown earth of the farm in broad bands of color, maximizing the impact of the medium. An appealing introduction to archaeology, and to the concept of continuity through the passing of time. (Picture book. 6-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Kindergarten-Grade 2-Following a picture of an elderly man on his tractor, a straightforward text explains how the Paleo-Indians of the Ice Age once lived where his farm stands today. Subsequent pages portray the melting of the glacier and the growth of forest and farmland. Seasons pass; other Indians, then settlers, then a soldier in the Civil War walk the land until readers are ultimately brought to the present day, where Grandpa unearths an old button, arrowheads, and a bone. Grandma arranges for specialists to examine the archaeological treasures found "right here on this spot...." Clapp's watercolor-and-pencil illustrations depict the land's progression with a gorgeous realism. This concept book is a useful introduction to the rudiments of archaeology, but it does not have the child appeal of George Ella Lyon's Who Came Down That Road? (Orchard, 1996). The beginning offers no intriguing catalyst for the lengthy discussion of geological and historical changes that follows. Children will need an adult to interest them in this one.
Jackie Hechtkopf, University of Maryland, College Park
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.