Mountain Town (Small Town U.S.A.)
Grade 1-3-A rural town nestled in the Rockies receives the same treatment that the Geiserts accorded to two previous locales in Prairie Town (1998) and River Town (1999, both Houghton). From the first snowfall through a calendar year and back to winter again, careful observers can follow small-town life through both annual celebrations and the mundane comings and goings of residents and visitors. A chimney fire, a family with an unlucky blue car, and a bank robbery are a few of the threads that weave their way through the fabric of daily life; a blizzard, the Fourth of July and Heritage Days supply seasonal diversions. The final page summarizes events and encourages readers to follow specific subplots. Thoughtful viewers can discover that while mining, heavy snows, and hikers are unique to the mountains, much of what goes on day-to-day is common to all communities. Etchings enhanced with watercolors provide sweeping panoramas, often on double-page spreads; perspectives include bird's-eye views as well as above and belowground cross sections. The present-tense text occasionally provides helpful explanations for the already-informative pictures but is often simply a redundant one-sentence commentary. Libraries owning the other Geisert books will want to purchase this for a compare-and-contrast exercise in community life, although the many intricate details prohibit group sharing. For other collections, it's a secondary purchase.Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.