The musical notation for the song is included at the rear. Eventually they arrive, and the poem/song concludes with a big hurrah for the pumpkin pie. The setting is modern, so the family travels in a car, driving from city to country, but the textual references to horses and sleighs are not neglected, as they pass such equipages on their journey. As the rhyming text rollicks along, following a family as they journey to their grandparents' house for a Thanksgiving feast, the artwork alternates between depicting that family on the road and depicting Grandmother and Grandfather preparing for them. Lydia Maria Child's classic New England Thanksgiving poem, which first appeared in 1844, is given a modern treatment by illustrator Nadine Bernard Westcott in this fun seasonal picture-book. Over the River and Through the Wood, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott.
Two very very grudging stars (and I do wish I could bring myself to rate this edition, this version of Over the River and Through the Wood with three stars, as I really love and appreciate Lydia Maria Francis Child's sweetly tender poem with all my heart, but David Catrow's accompanying illustrations, well at least to and for me, they leave just about everything to be desired and tend to actually give me the shivers, make me feel visual disgust, and yes indeed, if I were only considering David Catrow's illustrations, one star would be my ranking for his version of Over the River and Through the Wood, with truly no ifs, ands or buts). The delicate and sweet cadence of the author's poem, that sense of family togetherness and anticipation of a loving and frolicking Thanksgiving is rendered completely moot (and lost) by the garish, gaudy and at times totally freakily creepy illustrations (and while perhaps this actually was David Catrow's intention, it sure leaves me cold, unsatisfied and with a rather nasty if not angry taste in my mouth). I find them frustrating, aesthetically, visually annoying, frenetic, grating, and while they might, indeed, be considered a modern spoof, a modern take, they do not (in my opinion) at all mesh with the text, with the peaceful country imagery that is Lydia Maria Francis Child's narrative. While I love and will always love Lydia Maria Francis Child's evocative poem, I rather majorly and utterly despise this particular edition, simply because David Catrow's illustrations are absolutely not to my taste (and that is indeed the understatement of the year).
0 kommentar(er)
