Secret Place - Hardcover

Bunting, Eve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395643678 ISBN 13: 9780395643679

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1996

Synopsis

A small boy finds a secret place in the city that he shares with a white egret, mallards, and even ducklings.

About this title

About the Author:

Eve Bunting has written over two hundred books for children, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz, The Wall, Fly Away Home, and Train to Somewhere. She lives in Southern California.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 3?The cover illustration reveals to readers what the young narrator has discovered?a duck and her ducklings hidden amid the concrete and grime of the city. He shares his precious find with just a few appreciative adults and, in the process, introduces readers to a variety of wildlife. As his enthusiasm for this special spot grows, he wants to tell everyone about it but wise counseling from an adult cautions him to "be careful" because "some people might want to take the secret place and change it." Instead, readers are left with a bit of a hint as to its location?just enough to send them off to explore their own cities and towns. Double-page watercolor illustrations offer varying perspectives, and nature and the urban environment alternate as the dominant element. A dark palette contributes a sense of mystery and solemnity. Nighttime scenes acquire a magical quality when characters are outlined in a golden glow. The spare but lyrical text is boxed in the blues and greens of water and sky with the city's soot often, but not always, intruding. The illustrations are large enough to share with a group, and the text has a natural pacing well suited to reading aloud. Children will be delighted by the opportunity to be included in this secret, and will also share a profound respect for nature and a sense of joy in the triumph of a small piece of wilderness over urban decay and pollution. Like the secret place, this is a story that is gentle yet powerful.?Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0395643678
• ISBN 13: 9780395643679
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Rand Ted