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Summary
Summary
An exquisitely illustrated paean to everyone who struggles to learn how to read, and to everyone who won't give up on them.
Cal is not the readin' type. Living way high up in the Appalachian Mountains, he'd rather help Pap plow or go out after wandering sheep than try some book learning. Nope. Cal does not want to sit stoney-still reading some chicken scratch. But that Book Woman keeps coming just the same. She comes in the rain. She comes in the snow. She comes right up the side of the mountain, and Cal knows that's not easy riding. And all just to lend his sister some books. Why, that woman must be plain foolish--or is she braver than he ever thought?
That Book Woman is a rare and moving tale that honors a special part of American history--the Pack Horse Librarians, who helped untold numbers of children see the stories amid the chicken scratch, and thus made them into lifetime readers.
Author Notes
Heather Henson lives on a farm in Kentucky with her husband and three children, is the managing director of the Pioneer Playhouse, and is the author of several critically acclaimed picture books and novels, including Dream of Night , The Whole Sky , and the Christopher Award-winning That Book Woman .
David Small is the Caldecott Award-winning illustrator of So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George. He also received Caldecott Honors for The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo. He's illustrated dozens of other award-winning books, including That Book Woman by Heather Henson and The Underneath by Kathi Appelt, and lives in Michigan with his wife, Sarah Stewart.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Heather Henson's award-wining book (Atheneum, 2008), inspired by the Pack Horse Librarians of the 1930s who brought books to rural residents of the Appalachian Mountains, is presented here in grand style. Walker Harrison reads the story in a boy's voice as it is told in the first person by Cal, a young man who is, at first, unimpressed by both books and the woman who brings them. As time goes by, however, he begins to wonder what his sister, Lark, sees in all that chicken scratch. What could be so important about it to make a woman ride up into the hills every two weeks through rain, heat, and bitter cold? When Cal asks for Lark's help in learning to read, he turns an important corner that will open the world to him. Background music with an Appalachian air accompanies this reading in a fine regional accent. The text is lyrical, and occasional homespun language brings it to life. David Small's warm ink-and-watercolor illustrations are scanned iconographically with minor animation added. In interviews, the author and the illustrator discuss the research process, their childhoods, and the joy they find in the written word. This exceptional title can easily be paired with Barbara Cooney's Miss Rumphius (Viking, 1982) and My Great-Aunt Arizona (HarperCollins, 1992) by Gloria Houston to inspire children with a vision of what is possible.-Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.
Horn Book Review
(Primary, Intermediate) "Now what that lady brings / it's sure no treasure, / not to me, / but books!" Cal, oldest boy in an Appalachian family (Small's tender illustrations reveal four more children and still another on the way), can "help Pap / with the plowing / and...fetch the sheep / when they take a-wander" but sees no cause to sit "stoney-still / a-staring at some chicken scratch." His sister Lark, however, is an avid reader, and their parents warmly welcome the librarian from the Pack Horse Library Project (funded by Roosevelt's 1930s WPA). Riding her sorrel mare through Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains, the "Book Woman" comes every two weeks, in all kinds of weather. It's her courage in a blizzard that finally inspires Cal to ask Lark to teach him to read, which (plus Mama's precious recipe for berry pie) is the perfect return for the librarian's loyalty. Complementing Cal's authentically childlike thoughts, Small's deft, rough-edged lines and masterful watercolors convey even more than Henson's carefully honed text: the hardscrabble life in these harsh, lovely hills, the family's closeness and affection, Cal's mixed emotions -- most poignantly, in a marvelous composition where he watches the Book Woman ride off in the snow, his slim, angular back draped in a thin blanket, his face seen only as it's reflected in the window. Here's hoping Cal's first book was as good as this one. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Young Cal lives high in Kentucky's Appalachian Mountains. Sister Lark keeps her nose in a book nearly from daybreak to dusty dark. Cal's a mite suspiciousand more than a mite resentfulof this, as he spends most of his time helping Pap with chores. One day, he spies a sorrel mare clippity-clopping slowly up the mountain; the rider's not a man neither, but a lady wearing britches! She carries a passel of books in her saddle packs; all the family (exceptin' Cal) welcomes her warmly. Back she comes several times a year, no matter how bad the weather. This causes Cal to wonder why she's so dedicated, and he asks Lark to help him learn to read. By the time the Pack Horse Librarian appears again, she's made another convert. Small's illustrations, combining ink, watercolor and chalk, add an appropriately earthy warmth, complementing the precise prose beautifully. Every line oozes character: The hound dog's ears flop like nobody's business, and Cal's face in the foreground displays every emotion as he moves from scowling suspicion to wonder. (author's note) (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Cal describes his way-up mountain home So high / we hardly sight / a soul but that changes when the Book Woman, a traveling librarian, rides up to the house. The Book Woman is a boon for Cal's sister, Lark, the readenest child you ever did see, but no use to Cal, who is not born / to sit so stoney-still / a-starin at some chicken scratch. However, he is impressed by the librarian, who rides in all weather; finally, he asks Lark to teach him to read. This tribute to the Pack Horse Librarians of Appalachia has a lyric, simple style that lends itself to reading aloud. Henson, a Kentucky native, creates a reliable narrator in Cal, whose journey to reading is gentle and believable. There are a couple of stereotypes here (Mother is pregnant and barefoot), but overall, the mixed-media illustrations (ink, watercolor, pastel) support the text's genial flow. Mountains and sky achieve a lofty spaciousness that makes the Book Woman's ride even more impressive. An author's note gives background on the WPA's Pack Horse Librarian program.--Del Negro, Janice Copyright 2008 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Henson dramatizes the story of the "Pack Horse Librarians," women hired by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s to take books to families in distant hamlets of the Appalachian Mountains, where there were "few schools and no libraries." Small's illustrations - in ink, watercolor and pastel chalk - unfold at times almost as in a graphic novel: succeeding panels show a "book woman" guiding her horse through "rain and fog and cold," carrying new books for a boy named Cal and his sister Lark to read and swap for the old. THE HOUSE IN THE NIGHT Written by Susan Marie Swanson. Illustrated by Beth Krommes. Houghton Mifflin. $17. (Ages 3 to 6) This year's winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal is composed of just three colors: black, white and an intense sunflower yellow. The scratchboard and watercolor drawings zoom in and out, giving an aerial view of neat checkerboards of fields around a little "house in the night ... a home full of light," where on a bed waits a book "all about the starry dark." Krommes's widening perspective manages to exude both comfort and daring. CLOUDS Written by Anne Rockwell. Illustrated by Frané Lessac. Collins/HarperCollins. Paper, $5.99. (Ages 3 to 6) The Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series is notable for its clear, detailed lessons on everything from gravity to volcanoes, illustrated in a jaunty, colorful style. Here, the standard earthscience lesson on where clouds come from and how they're classified has the charm of a Grandma Moses painting. In a tableau of children playing with flashlights on a dusky gray day, the text helpfully says: "There's one kind of cloud you can feel standing on the ground. That is fog. It's the lowest kind of cloud." DO YOU LOVE ME? Written and illustrated by Joost Elffers-and Curious Pictures. Bowen/HarperCollins. $14.99. (Ages 2 to 5) An eye-catching valentine to children everywhere who love to get reassurance on the basics (even if they don't always admit it): "Would you leave me? Never ever. Do you want me? Only forever." The book's superbright pictures of friendly squishy faces - the creatures are credited to Elffers and, curiously, Curious Pictures, the studio behind "Little Einsteins" - are instantly appealing to children (and not just the intended preschool age group). WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE By Russell Freedman. Illustrated. Holiday House. $24.95. (Ages 8 to 12) Here's one way to commemorate George Washington's birthday: Read about the very first time it was celebrated publicly. As we learn in this fascinating account of the winter that nearly finished the Continental Army (a failed supply system was largely to blame for leaving the soldiers starving and barefoot), General Washington overcame doubts about his leadership to win the lasting loyalty of his men, and on Feb. 22, 1778, he was surprised by a serenade of fifers and drummers in the snow. Many such stories enliven this history. HOW TO HEAL A BROKEN WING Written and illustrated by Bob Graham. Candlewick. $16.99. (Ages 3 to 6) The simplicity of Graham's story contains a surprising power. In few words, he tells the tale of a pigeon who lies unnoticed on a sidewalk until a boy finds it and takes it home to heal. Parents may recognize the barely concealed alarm of the mother and father, but take note: They help anyway. JULIE JUST SWAMP THINGS A podcast with Carl Hiaasen talking about "Scat," his new novel for young readers, at nytimes.com/books.