A Voice from Afar - Hardcover

Johnston, Tony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823420124 ISBN 13: 9780823420124

Publisher: Holiday House, 2008

Synopsis

Presents a collection of poems that convey the realities of war and peace.

About this title

About the Author:

Tony Johnston is an award-winning author who has written more than seventy books for children, including The Chizzywink and the Alamagoozlum, illustrated by Robert Bender. Her experiences and travels around the world have found many expressions in her work. She lives in San Marino, California.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5–8—Johnston offers thoughtful responses to war's senseless violence. Her free-verse word pictures call to mind scenes of terrible devastation: bodies lying crumpled in the street and homeless dogs "nosing along barren streets/for tidbits never found." Lives are wiped away in an instant when a bus explodes, homes and lives are shattered, yet Johnston finds cause for hope amid the grimness. A mother bravely tends a wounded soldier, a rosebush clings to life through drought and war, and a soccer game brings a respite: "The soldier's face remembers/it has a smile." Johnston adds her own voice, the sympathetic observer from afar, sending prayers for peace. Guevara's paintings, crafted with acrylic and oil paint with collage on textured canvas, feature subdued, neutral colors and haunting images, such as the poignant cover painting of a small girl clinging to the back of a dove. Through prayers and healing words, Johnston hopes that a new landscape can be woven: "A world/with peaks of kindness,/orchards branched with good,/rivers swollen with peace." Teachers will appreciate this measured response to the subject.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA
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About this edition

• Publisher: Holiday House
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0823420124
• ISBN 13: 9780823420124
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Guevara Susan