Award-winning poet David Bouchard offers words that remind the reader of the power of the wind, the sweep of the sky, and adventures on a cold prairie night. Henry Ripplinger's stunning paintings are treasures for the mind and the heart. Ages 6 and up
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From School Library Journal
Grade 2-6?Blazing skies in bright blues bounce from the full-page acrylic illustrations that face every page of poetic text in this piece about modern-day life on the prairie. Ripplinger's paintings are done in a realistic style somewhat similar to Andrew Wyeth's. In them, a young boy and his dog play through every season on farmlands, prairie fields, and country roads. He and his friends have a snowball fight in front of a large country house and board the school bus in a winter blizzard. The child walks in a creek bed in solitude and down the road beside his dad. For the most part, the accompanying verse is well written. The dialogue style works well rhythmically and makes for a possible story hour or program read-aloud. Adults would also enjoy this nostalgic piece that ends with the boy a grown farmer: "You see, my hair's mostly wind,/My eyes filled with grit,/My skin's red or brown,/My lips chapped and split." With its attractive format, this will make a nice additional purchase for poetry collections, though in prairie areas it might be a "must."?Susannah Price, Boise Public Library, ID
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Gr. 3^-5, younger for reading aloud. The initial premise of the poem--if you're not from the prairie, you can't understand wind, cold, grasses, and such--mellows out by the end as "you" and "I" agree to understand each other because we share the same sun. The colorful acrylic paintings, however, draw you in immediately rather than insist that you can't understand. Ripplinger's images catch the vastness of prairie living, with a strong sense of the flat expanses of the horizon, and the vastness of the sky. This is a world of children on the prairie, physically lying on the land, playing in the mud, walking through the snow. The book affectionately shows farm life on flatland, wherever the land is. Mary Harris Veeder
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
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First Sentence
If you're not from the prairie, You don't know the sun, You can't know the sun. Read the first page
Front Cover | Excerpt | Back Cover
If you're not from the prairie, You don't know the sun, You can't know the sun. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
By MomCan
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Our School Community Council gives a book to each graduating student, and after browsing for which book to give, this was the one we chose. This is our second year giving this book. The words and pictures are amazingly accurate and depict life on the prairies as many of us knew it! It's actually meant to be a children's book, but we felt it is suitable for "children" of all ages! After all, we're only as old as we feel on the inside, and books like this help to keep us young!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poetic and Beautiful. We didn't really buy it as a children's book...
Jun 11 2009
By whynot2
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
My wife and I are both from the prairies. We don't live there anymore. We had a copy of this. The cat ate it, quite literally. We decided to replace it. It won't be the book we refer to the most, or spend the most time with. But it might end up being the last book in our collection, where ever we end up.
It looks like a children's book, but it's not. There's no story, no striking characters. Only poetry and art. And, our children aren't from the prairie, so they don't know, and will never know sky, horizon, dust in the wind or flat. Or, I suppose, me.
It made one of our 3 children sad. It made her sad to realize that her childhood wasn't like that, and neither will her children's. My childhood wasn't perfect, but I do know sky, horizon, thunderclouds, sunsets (and sunrises), creeks, and absolute dark; and silence but for subtle natural sounds.
It's a very nice and beautiful little book.
It looks like a children's book, but it's not. There's no story, no striking characters. Only poetry and art. And, our children aren't from the prairie, so they don't know, and will never know sky, horizon, dust in the wind or flat. Or, I suppose, me.
It made one of our 3 children sad. It made her sad to realize that her childhood wasn't like that, and neither will her children's. My childhood wasn't perfect, but I do know sky, horizon, thunderclouds, sunsets (and sunrises), creeks, and absolute dark; and silence but for subtle natural sounds.
It's a very nice and beautiful little book.
By Heather Wilton
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book makes me proud to be from the prairie. A lyrical poem. Lovely artwork. Highly recommended.
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4.8 out of 5 stars
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