Richie's Picks: ELSIE'S BIRD by Jane Yolen & David Small, September 2010,
Philomel, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-399-25292-1
"Like emptiness in harmony
I need someone to comfort me
Homeward bound"
-- Paul Simon
My goats are such liars!
It's barely past noon -- four more hours to go until feeding time -- and
while I am trying to enjoy this beautiful picturebook, the goats are taking
the opportunity to loudly announce to the entire neighborhood that I am,
once again, absolutely starving them to death.
The goats do not require a lot of commitment these days. After the first
twenty-five years of goatkeeping I'd had enough of milking goats twice a
day and ceased doing so. Besides, nowadays I am vegan anyway, and don't need
the milk. But no matter what else is going on in my life or in the world,
I can walk out the door or pull up the driveway in my pickup and the goats
will all come charging over to the corner of the pasture nearest the
house, calling me over to say hi to them (And, oh, might you bring us some grape
leaves and a bunch of windfall plums while you are at it).
I cherish the little corner of the world where I live, but such a
significant part of what transforms this land into my home is those dumb goats.
And that is what comes to mind as I read and re-read ELSIE'S BIRD, Jane
Yolen and David Small's poetic picturebook story of a young girl who, in a
era long past, moves westward across the country with her widowed father.
Leaving the civilized world of Boston far behind, the pair head for the
seemingly empty vastness of the prairie in Nebraska. And it is Elsie's canary,
Timmy Tune, whom she has brought along with her, who brings comfort to the
young girl; who turns the foreignness of the sod house into a home; and
who, ultimately, is the one to coax Elsie out of her shell and persuade her
to fly.
As many of us are so fortunate to know through our own experiences, caring
for an animal -- whether it be a cat, a dog, a guinea pig, a bird, a
horse, or even a turtle -- can be a truly wondrous experience that offers
priceless therapeutic effects for people of all ages. Yolen and Small do such a
great job here of portraying that love for and fellowship with a pet.
ELSIE'S BIRD is also very much a haunting song of the prairie:
"And then, oh then -- sitting there
by the burbling creek,
in the green-gold grass,
under the sun-washed sky,
Elsie finally heard the voices of the plains.
She heard wind rippling the grass.
She heard long vees of geese
spinning out cries like thread;
the creaking call of sandhill cranes;
the bubbly larkspur far out over the tall stalks."
Having spent yesterday hiking amidst California redwoods and enjoying that
luxury of being far from strip malls and commuter traffic (and laptops), I
am salivating over David Small's paintings depicting the deep, endless sea
of grasses, ferns, flowers, and unobstructed blue sky in which Elsie finds
herself. America the beautiful, indeed.
This is a truly lovely book in which to get lost and find one's self.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks _http://richiespicks.com_ (http://richiespicks.com/)
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
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FTC NOTICE: Richie receives free books from lots of publishers who hope he
will Pick their books. You can figure that any review was written after
reading and dog-earring a free copy received. Richie retains these review
copies for his rereading pleasure and for use in his booktalks at schools
and libraries.
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