ILLI NI S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois Press :rl r .. :· .CI· i 5~1 ~··"1~:-; ; ;: ·:1~·· .-r· - i -i ?, s~; r *A light, breezy, feel-good book.* A1terand trBad Witen andlklstmted by Lese Tryn ; '·· ginative and charming gouache I· ons complement the froliking verse t rtstspring training without it d review. School Lbray Journal i · I as the i offer- ng should have a life on the shelvs us · ; I:· Reviews "I : I · 1·, I. The fine-line drawings brightened with colorful washes make the most i I- of the comic possibitles inthe ; .i . · lilting, rhymed verses...' I 1.. ; -Booklhst I, Alberts Ballgrne 0-689-80874- $16.00 1U/21.50 CAN ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americs * New York, NY 10020 THE B UL LE T IN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS July/August 1996 Vol.49 No. 11 A LOOK INSIDE 363 THE BIG PICTURE Grandmother Bryant's Pocket written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin; illus. by Petra Mathers 364 NEW BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE Reviewed titles include: 370 * BuriedAlive: The Elements ofLove written by Ralph Fletcher; illus. with photographs by Andrew Moore 372 * The Life and Death of Crazy Horse written by Russell Freedman; illus. by Amos Bad Heart Bull 378 * Sam and the Tigers: A New Telling ofLittle Black Sambo written by Julius Lester; illus. by Jerry Pinkney 381 * The Inner City Mother Goose by Eve Merriam; illus. by David Diaz 381 * Zel by Donna Jo Napoli 392 SUBJECT AND USE INDEX 394 ANNUAL AUTHOR AND TITLE INDEX EXPLANATION OF CODE SYMBOLS USED WITH REVIEWS * Asterisks denote books of special distinction. R Recommended. Ad Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. M Marginal book that is so slight in content or has so many weaknesses in style or format that it should be given careful consideration before purchase. NR Not recommended. SpC Subject matter or treatment will tend to limit the book to specialized collections. SpR A book that will have appeal for the unusual reader only. Recommended for the special few who will read it. The Bulletin ofthe Centerfor Children'sBooks (ISSN 0008-9036) is published monthly except August by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Illinois Press, 1325 S. Oak, Champaign, IL 61820. STAFF Deborah Stevenson, Acting Editor (DS) Elizabeth Bush, Reviewer (EB) Susan S. Verner, Reviewer (SSV) Roger Sutton, Reviewer (RS) Betsy Hearne, Consulting Editor and Faculty Liaison (BH) Tara L. Rivera, Editorial Assistant (TLR) Amy E. Brandt, Graduate Research Assistant (AEB) Lisa Mahoney, Graduate Research Assistant (LM) Pat Mathews, Graduate Research Assistant (PM) Reviewers' initials are appended to reviews. SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 year, institutions, $40.00; individuals, $35.00. In countries other than the United States, add $7.00 per subscription for postage. Japanese subscription agent: Kinokuniya Company Ltd. Single copy rate: $4.50. Reprinted volumes 1-35 (1947-1981) available from Kraus Reprint Co., Route 100, Millwood, NY 10546. Volumes available in microfilm from University Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Complete volumes available in microfiche from Johnson Associates, P.O. Box 1017, Greenwich, CT 06830. Subscription checks should be made payable to the University of Illinois Press. All notices of change of address should provide both the old and new address. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, University of Illinois Press, 1325 S. Oak, Champaign, IL 61820. Subscription Correspondence. Address all inquiries about subscriptions and advertising to University of Illinois Press, 1325 S. Oak, Champaign, IL 61820. Editorial Correspondence. Review copies and all correspondence about reviews should be sent to Deborah Stevenson, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Children's Research Center, 51 Gerty Drive, Champaign, IL 61820. Second-class postage paid at Champaign, Illinois © 1996 by The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Drawings by Debra Bolgla. This publication is printed on acid-free paper. Cover illustration by Petra Mathers, from GrandmotherBryant's Pocket ©1996 and used by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. JULY/AUGUST 1996 * 363 THE BIG PICTURE Grandmother Bryant's Pocket written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin; illustrated by Petra Mathers "Sarah Bryant was eight years old in 1787. She lived on a farm in Maine and had a spotted dog called Patches." It's a matter-of-fact, unassuming beginning to what seems at first to be a cheerful account of quotidian matters ("Every day Patches waited while Sarah churned butter, gathered the eggs, or fed the pig"). But soon tragedy strikes when Patches perishes in a barn fire, and an inconsolable Sarah is sent to stay with her grandparents for comfort and recuperation. There she tends the garden with her herbalist grandmother, finding strength in wearing Grand- mother Bryant's pocket which, in the convention of the time, was a separate cloth pouch tied around the waist. Then the pocket disappears, and Sarah must face the fears that have plagued her since the loss of her beloved companion in order to get it back. Rather than doing one big thing spectacularly, the book excels by combining many fine small components very well indeed. Martin, who demonstrated her capacity for humor in Good Times on GrandfatherMountain (BCCB 3/92), here returns to the fluid and musing prose she employed in The Finest Horse in Town (BCCB 7/92). The storytelling folds other little stories ("He told of his mother- such a good knitter, she knitted a mitten underwater the day she fell off the Kennebec ferryboat") smoothly into the larger plot without ever rambling or losing focus. The text's gravity and poetic tone (the ragged right margins enhance the free-verse resemblance) may initially distance it from some young readers, but many will find its evocation of an earlier time reminiscent of the Little House stories. And while its telling use of detail effectively creates a world very far away from now, its respectful and understanding treatment of Sarah's fear ("She had no Patches to make her brave and she dared not go outside by herself") and of her enduring grief ("Some nights she called in her sleep for Patches and woke up weeping") adds a timeless touch. The book's appreciation of detail doesn't end with the text. Its small trim size bucks the bigger-is-better trend and emphasizes the tight focus of the story. The discreetly decorative design emphasizes white space, breaking the text up into short verse paragraphs and giving every spread its own chapter title. Petra Mathers' watercolors have a vigor that keeps them from becoming precious despite their petite size; the wonder of the ordinary (a wooden carved clown, the neighbor's pigs, the verdant garden) is their specialty. The illustrations rely on spot art and half-page landscapes, which keeps the small pages from becoming overcrowded, until Sarah finally goes home in a double-spread field of flowering mullein (which couldn't wait for the spread but began creeping in the page before) with butterflies overhead and her new comrade the cat dancing about her. 364 * THE BULLETIN An unusual little book, cozy but controlled, this demonstrates that diminutive need not mean precious or cloying. And not only is it that all-too-rare item, a historical account that will appeal to very early readers, it also contains a rhythmi- cal cadence that would make it an effective intimate readaloud. The story's verisi- militude leads one to suspect a basis in reality, but no note explains, so it remains poised on the line between imagination and fact. A brief guide to Grandmother Bryant's herbs is appended. (Imprint information appears on p. 381.) Deborah Stevenson, Acting Editor NEW BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE ASHABRANNER, BRENT A Strange and DistantShore: Indians ofthe Great Plainsin Exile. Cobblehill, 1996 54 p ISBN 0-525-65201-9 $16.99 Ad Gr. 5-8 This is an account of the strange interlude in which seventy-two Indians of the Great Plains were sent as prisoners to St. Augustine, Florida, for three years. Ashabranner explains the Red River War of 1875 that occasioned this punitive response and also examines the role of Captain Richard Henry Pratt, whose un- usual respect for the imprisoned Indians changed the nature of their incarceration and led eventually to their freedom, but whose insistence on Indian assimilation exacted its own eventual cost. The book reads slowly, bogged down in a multitude of dates, incidents, and persons, before it gets to the drama of exile, and the chronicle of those three years is over quite quickly. And while the disparate elements-the Red River War, Pratt's role, the art painted by the prisoners-would merit further examination, they fail to cohere into a single larger picture here. It's still a compel- ling piece of history, and the description of the captives' containment and self- government in Florida is both memorable and poignant; the color inserts of prisoners' (and other Indians') paintings are worth examination as well. There are no notes, but a bibliography and an index are included. DS BRUCHAC, JOSEPH Children of the Longhouse. Dial, 1996 150p Library ed. ISBN 0-8037-1794-6 $14.89 Trade ed. ISBN 0-8037-1793-8 $14.99 R Gr. 5-8 The Mohawks' long-standing peace with the neighboring Amen:taks is threatened by a small band of Mohawk adolescents who plot to raid their neighbors' village and, thereby, earn glory as warriors; eleven-year-old Ohkwa'ri overhears their plans and informs his clan's council.