The Quiet Place - Hardcover

Stewart, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374325650 ISBN 13: 9780374325657

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2012

Synopsis

When Isabel and her family move to the United States, Isabel misses all the things she left behind in Mexico, especially her aunt Lupita and hearing people speak Spanish. But she also experiences some wonderful new things--her first snow storm and a teacher who does not speak Spanish but has a big smile. Even better, Papa and her brother Chavo help her turn a big box into her own quiet place, where she keeps her books and toys and writes letters to Aunt Lupita. As she decorates and adds more and more on to her quiet place, it is here that Isabel feels the most at home in her new country while she learns to adjust to the changes in her life.

Set in the 1950s and told through Isabel's letters to her aunt, Sarah Stewart and Caldecott Medalist David Small have created a charming and unforgettable young heroine who will win the hearts of readers in this story of immigration and assimilation. The Quiet Place is a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2012

About this title

About the Author

Husband and wife duo Sarah Stewart and David Small have worked together on several picture books, including The Friend, The Money Tree, and The Library. The Gardener is a Caldecott Honor book. Small has also illustrated other books, including the 2001 Caldecott Medal winner So You Want to Be President?, by Judith St. George. Stewart and Small live in a historic home on a bend of the St. Joseph River in Michigan.

Reviews

K-Gr 3-Set in 1957, this epistolary story is told in 12 letters from a child to her Aunt Lupita. Isabel, her parents, and her older brother emigrate from Mexico to the United States, leaving her aunt behind. From her new home, Isabel writes about her struggle with learning English, starting school, helping her mother bake cakes for children's parties, and building her "quiet place"--a cardboard playhouse where she feels safe. Central to the story, the construction of Isabel's project closely follows her gradual adjustment to her new life. Small gives glimpses at the process throughout the book, starting with very shy Isabel asking for a discarded birthday box and ending with her unveiling her completed project at her birthday party, attended by everyone in the neighborhood. Spread over a double-page foldout, the "quiet place" explodes with color, lavishly decorated with Isabel's art. No longer merely a comfy space, it transforms into a place for connecting with new friends, a symbol for fitting in. Drawn in Small's signature style, the delicate but vibrant illustrations, along with the pithy narrative vignettes, poignantly capture the emotional hardships and triumphs of the immigrant experience. Another gem from this dynamic team.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NYα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374325650
• ISBN 13: 9780374325657
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Small David
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 44