PICTURE BOOK - Fiona's Lace - Patricia Polacco

Illustrated by the author

2014 Paula Wiseman; Simon & Schuster

HC $17.99

40  pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.03

My rating: 4

Endpapers: solid bold green background with intricate last recctangle almost covering the entire page

Illustrations: ah, Patricia Polacco......

1^st line/s:  "Many years ago my father's family lived in a small, poor village a few miles from Limerick in Ireland.  Everyone in the village depended on the textile mill that was soon to close.  Most of the vilagers were unsure of their futures.  But Glen Kerry was their home and all that any of them had ever known."

My comments:  Another lovely family story from Patricia Polacco with many themes and at least one strong moral.  Most of Polacco's stories come from family stories, and within the book itself there is usually some sort of oral story-telling.  This is very strongly of that sort - a piece of the lace that is the second protagonist in the story is framed on the wall in Polacco's home.  This is also a very vibrant immigration story.

Goodreads:  An Irish family stays together with the help of Fiona's talent for making one-of-a-kind lace in this heartwarming immigration story from the New York Times bestselling creator of The Keeping Quilt.

          Many years ago, times were hard in all of Ireland, so when passage to America becomes available, Fiona and her family travel to Chicago. They find work in domestic service to pay back their passage, and at night Fiona turns tangles of thread into a fine, glorious lace. Then when the family is separated, it is the lace that Fiona's parents follow to find her and her sister and bring the family back together. And it is the lace that will always provide Fiona with memories of Ireland and of her mother's words; "In your heart your true home resides, and it will always be with you as long as you remember those you love."
          This generational story from the family of Patricia Polacco's Irish father brims with the same warmth and heart as the classic The Keeping Quilt and The Blessing Cup, which Kirkus Reviews called "deeply affecting" in a starred review, and embraces the comfort of family commitment and togetherness that Patricia Polacco's books are known for.

Peppe the Lamplighter - Elisa Bartone

Illustrated by Ted Lewin
Loithrop Lee & Shepard, 1993
For: gr. 1-4
My rating: Story: 2.5/ Illustrations: 4
Endpapers: Bright Yellow
Caldecott Honor

Ted Lewin's beautiful, full-page illustrations take on a dark tone in this story. Peppe lives with his seven sisters and sickly father in the tenements of New York's Little Italy. Peppe hunts everywhre to find a job to help support his family, and finally procures one lighting the lamps around his neighborhood with a flame on the end of a long pole.

However, his father is ashamed of him - he says this is not why he brought his son to America -- he wants much more for him. His father's silence and attitude eventually rub off on Peppe, who gets more and more depressed - until he doesn't light the lamps one night. And because of that, his little sister doesn't arrive home. (She is afraid of the dark and huddles under an unlit lamp.)

Distressed, the father begs Peppe to go out and light the lamps. He finds his sister and brings her home to a now-loving and accepting father.

Okay, the illustrations are gorgeous. But the story throws me off a bit - this father! What a jerk. He doesn't deserve so many caring, hard-working kids! I bet if I read this aloud to my students they'd decide that for themselves, too. Grrrrrr.