Home Place
On a backpacking trip, a girl and her parents uncover a bit of the past when they chance upon some daffodils--"cups lifted to trumpet / the good news / of spring." Nearby they find a chimney buried in honeysuckle, a stone foundation, a glass marble, the arm of a china doll. The girl imagines a black family living there in the past, what they ate, how they talked, the songs they sang. With striking craft, Dragonwagon limns a forgotten family's day-to-day existence. Pinkney's characteristically stunning, limpid watercolors are lush in shades of greens and browns, with touches of vibrant yellow in the flowers. His evocative images present a joyous mealtime, a child carefully ribboning her hair and hardworking Uncle Ferd, "wiping the sweat from his forehead." A nice touch in the book's attractive design is the fact that paintings of the present are full page, while those set in the past are "distanced" by their frames. This lovely work closes as the girl reluctantly leaves her imaginings to rejoin her parents in the present. Ages 5-8.Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.