The Visit - Reeve Lindbergh

illustrator: Wendy Anderson Halperin
2005
Rating: 4
Endpapers: cream with photos-animals-food-flowers "sprinkled" around

Two sisters travel to the country for a visit with their Aunt Laura and Uncle Ted. Written in rhyming stanzas where first and fourth lines repeat:

Highway and country lane, dirt road and dust,
Beth watches leaves whirling up in a gust.
Jill sees a mailbox covered with rust.
Highway and country lane, dirt road and dust.

and

Maple tree, willow tree, poplar and pine.
Beth watches swallows, swooping to dine.
Jill finds a lost kite, tangled n twine.
Maple tree, willow tree, poplar and pine.

Illustrations: arched "window" to view 2/3 of page, four smaller rectangular illustrations below - lots to see - pencil, watercolor, lots of detail.

Thank You, World - Alice B. McGinty

Illustratror: Wendy Anderson Halperin
For: Young kids to old people (like me!)
Publshed: Oct. 2007
Rating: A Big 5
Endpapers: Eight squares with 8 globes, each showing one of the 8 different countries discussed in the book.

A NEW FAVORITE - at least for awhile, until another one comes along....

From the illustrator, written above an illustration of 9 crayons: "The art was created with a box of 120 Crayola crayons, 22 Crayola Twistables, and a box of 30 Swiss Neocolor I crayons by Caran d'ache on top of copies of pencil drawings." Now that, in itself, is pretty cool. The illustrations are really nice. Each two-page spread is divided into eight squares. Each square, from the endpaper onward, depicts the world from one child's point-of-view. Across the top row: square one is a child from the United States, square 2 is about a child in Mexico, 3 is Bolivia, 4 is France, Across the bottom row: The 1st square is Mali (in Africa), the 2nd is Saudi Arabia, the third is India, and tha last is China. So on every page you follow the "story" from their point-of-view in the same square.

The book itself is a lovely thank you, used as a framework to show the lives of these eight children from morning 'til night:

Thank you, sun, for waking up the morning......and coloring the sky. (Illustrations are from the countryside)
Thank you, sky, for shining bluethat calls me....to touch you, swinging high.
Thank you, swing. You shoot me like a rocket....past birds and grass and trees. (Illustrations are native birds)

And this is how it continues. In different native trees, out the windows of their very different homes, with their moms, and in their very different beds and bedrooms until: "And thank you, nighttime. Your soft gray shadows....will touch my dreams tonight.

I'm going to have to get this one for my babes in ME and PA. It's really special. When the kids are really young they'll enjoy the rhyme and rhythm. As they get older they'll enjoy watching each of the eight children progress through their day. Eight countries of our world to learn about!

Turn! Turn! Turn! - Pete Seeger

Illustrator: Wendy Anderson Halperin
For: Kids
Pub: 2003
Rating: 4/5
Finished : Aug. 11, 2008
includes CD with two songs

Last year, while creating curriculum for fifth graders on the literature of ancient Israel, I decided to find readings from the Old Testament and teach them using a musical approach. I remembered the Byrds' song Turn! Turn! Turn! and have found two picture books depicting it. In 1961, Pete Seeger took the words from Ecclesiastes, originally written in 250 BCE and translated into English in London in 1607, and set them to music. Wendy Anderson Halperin takes those words and creates a double page spread to illustrate each coupling of verse. All illustrations are contained within a huge circle and drawn using watercolors. BEAUTIFULLY drawn. I poured over each of them, looking at details and admiring Halperin's vision for each of the phrases. There was one drawback for me, however. To be able to view each illustration correctly, I had to keep turning the book this way and that, upside-down and sideways. It's a fairly large book with a dustcover, and it started to drive me crazy. Otherwise, it was quite lovely.

There is a full page note in the back of the book from Pete Seeger, explaining how he created this now-very-popular song. Sheet music is included, as well a CD that contains Pete Seeger's version along with the Byrd's slightly different one. It's fun to see the difference and listen to both sets of voices sing this song.