The Basket Moon - Hardcover

Ray, Mary Lyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316735213 ISBN 13: 9780316735216

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 1999

Synopsis

In a lyrical, elegant coming-of-age picture book, a boy begins to doubt his heritage when he hears taunts of "hillbilly" and "bushwhacker, " while accompanying his father to the big city. Color illustrations throughout.

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Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 3 This engaging book tells about a young boy's coming-of-age in an isolated rural community around the turn of the last century, and about the special baskets made by the people who live in the hills above the Hudson River. For years, the child has been eager to join his father on his monthly walk to the nearby town to sell the baskets. Pa always goes at the time of the "basket moon" (the full moon) because he needs its light to find his way home. Finally, after the boy's ninth birthday, he accompanies his father to town. He is excited by all the new things he sees there, but when a townie taunts them with "A tisket, a tasket, hillbilly basket! That's all a bushwhacker knows," he is devastated. He wants nothing further to do with basket making and wants his family to stop, too. One of his father's helpers, seeing the boy's distress, helps him to understand the artistic nature of their craft, and to value such work. The story is told by the boy in lyrical prose, and is graced by Cooney's soft-hued oil-and-acrylic paintings. The artist makes the mountains and forests glow with a suffused light that enhances their beauty and softens the family's hard life, and she artistically incorporates the various steps of basket making described in the text. An afterword explains a little of the history of these baskets and the people who made them. A luminous and deeply satisfying look back in time. Virginia Golodetz, Children's Literature New England, Burlington, VT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Weaving in authentic details as seamlessly as Pa weaves the splints in his baskets, Ray (Mud; Pianna) pays homage not only to a time-honored craft, but to the way traditions link one generation to the next. A boy growing up in the hills above the Hudson Valley longs to accompany his father to town, where each month he takes his baskets to sell: "He always went when the moon was round, to have it for a lantern if he was late returning." As the seasons turn, the boy continues to watch and wait, listening to the stories Pa tells, observing the men at their basket weaving. Then after his ninth birthday, "I began to see Pa studying me the way he checked a basket when it was finished"; at the next full moon the boy is allowed to go to town. The journey opens the world to him, in more ways than one; the boy will never view his life the same way again. Ray's subtle symbolism and poetic language create a story that will linger with readers for many moons. And Cooney's (Ox-Cart Man) scenes are as pristine as the narrative. From countryside to bustling early- 20th-century metropolis, her deft brush picks out a few carefully chosen details to balance the ethereal simplicity of each scene: delicate fern fronds decorate the forest's undergrowth; a boy's red mittens counterpoint the muted grays of a winter scene; the iron filigree on a rooftop in town adds an elegant touch to the skyline. Author and artist unite in a tribute to the natural world humanity, and their abiding interconnectedness. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A touchingly luminous tale based on true stories of basket- weaving families outside of Hudson, New York. Every spring a boy helps the men make baskets from tree splints and twigs. He yearns to accompany his dad to Hudson to sell the baskets, but it's not until he turns nine that his father agrees to take him along. At first he's overwhelmed by the sights, both indoors and out, but his trip is soon marred by the taunts of others, who call his people ``bushwhackers'' and ``hillbillies.'' Returning home, the boy feels ashamed of his family's trade, and in a fit of anger, kicks over the piles of baskets in the barn. Big Joe explains how they must listen to the wind in order to weave their baskets. The boy realizes that his gifts are far more meaningful than the comments of bullies. Ray's eloquent story is matched by Cooney's poetic paintings, which are graced by moonlight or leaf-dappled sunlight. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A nineteenth-century boy watches his dad make baskets from the trees around their home in the hills of Columbia County, New York, and finally Pa allows the boy to go with him to sell baskets in Hudson. The boy enjoys the town, the trading, and the adventure, but when a townsman sneers at them as "hillbillies," he is ashamed and wants nothing more to do with the basket craft in his home. Children will understand the boy's longing to join Pa, his pride in the family work, and his bitter hurt at the insult; they will also feel his initial anger and rejection. How he finds affirmation is more subtle, and it is here that Cooney's quiet, beautiful paintings in oil pastel and acrylic express the essence of the story, weaving together from the first double-page spread to the last the basket maker's natural world and the work of his craft. The images combine folk art and landscape scenes in widening circles that include the round moon, the rolling hills, the path through the woods, the curling bark from the trees, and the arc of the workman's tools ("Under. Over. Under. Over"). That is why the round baskets are strong and beautiful. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316735213
• ISBN 13: 9780316735216
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Cooney Barbara
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32