Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts
*Starred Review* Gr. 1-3. Winter is the time of lights, and Hines celebrates the season in thoughtful poems and pictures of gorgeous quilts full of bright, beautiful colors. Christmas is only one of the light-producing celebrations that Hines illuminates. The feast of Santa Lucia, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the Chinese New Year are spectacularly introduced with short bursts of poetry and quilts that capture the spirit of the day--a Hanukkah menorah, for example, colored all blue and gold, is set against thin, blue stripes of different fabrics, giving depth and weight to the holiday feeling. Two of the most beautiful spreads are not about holidays at all. A black background with a burst of starlight marks the winter solstice, and amazing shifts of colors across two pages evoke the Aurora borealis ("A billowing curtain of swirling, swooping light"). Christmas is elaborated upon in several pieces, the most handsome highlightingfarolitos, paper bag lanterns said to light Mary and Joseph's path. The back matter, of most interest to adults and young quilters, explains in words and photos how the quilts were made. A lovely follow-up to Hines'Pieces: A Year in Poems & Quilts(2001).Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved