Good Times on Grandfather Mountain - Hardcover

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531059774 ISBN 13: 9780531059777

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1992

Synopsis

Mountain man Washburn insists on looking on the bright side of things, even as disaster after disaster befalls him

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 1-- Old Washburn, sanguine to the extreme, always looks on the bright side. When his cow runs away, he cheerfully turns the milk pail into a drum. When the pig escapes, he good-naturedly turns the fencepost into drumsticks. When a storm blows his cabin down, he uses the wood to whittle a fiddle. His neighbors are drawn by his music and while some of them dance, others help him to rebuild. Finally, his cow, his pig, and the other farm animals hear Old Washburn's music and head for home. Martin has written a pleasantly optimistic story without the burden of didacticism. Nicely told in lilting language, it is a treat to read aloud. Watercolors in a pleasing palette humorously depict Washburn's farm as a laissez-faire kind of place. The old man himself has his long gray hair caught back in a rainbow-colored ribbon. His cow, Blanche Wisconsin, is comically shown with a rainbow floating in one ear and out the other as she listens to the music. A variety of interesting perspectives and droll closeups make this an excellent choice for group sharing--along with a few choruses of ``Old MacDonald Had a Farm.'' --Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT-
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Old Washburn is a whittler and an eternal optimist. When his cow (``Blanche Wisconsin'') wanders off, he remarks that ``her milk never did make good cheese'' and fashions a drum from his milk bucket; the departure of his pig and chickens and the raccoons' depradations in his cornfield elicit equally cheerful reactions. Even when the wind blows down his cabin, Washburn sleeps happily beneath the stars and then whittles a fiddle from the pieces. The fiddle music draws his neighbors, who dance, join in on the rollicking tunes, and pitch in to rebuild his house; the animals, too, are lured back by the music. Martin's wry, nicely cadenced narration gives her tale a hearty folk-tale flavor. In her skillful watercolor art, Gaber (The Woman Who Flummoxed the Fairies, 1990) varies closeups that draw the reader right into the action with novel perspectives and, in the joyous dance scene, a sly reference to Matisse's compositions of circling figures. Entertaining, original, and beautifully produced. (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0531059774
• ISBN 13: 9780531059777
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1
• Illustrator: Gaber Susan