|
The Truth about the Moon (Ages 7 up)—Houghton, 1984Sumu, an African boy with an insatiable curiosity about the moon, is told several contradictory stories about it. The soft pencil sketches are well executed and subtly incorporate symbols of fertility which the tales suggest. There are elements of folklore here; this gently humorous story is based on stories told the author by his students while teaching in Africa. School Library Journal ...fond, wry, phantasmagoric... a teasing, fittingly elusive quest for the truth beyond legend. Kirkus Reviews I fell immediately in love with all of Rosekrans Hoffmann’s illustrations for The Truth about the Moon. She brought so much more to this story than I imagined an artist could. The fun and fantasy and whimsy of many of the illustrations were not at all what I had in mind for this rather realistic—I thought—story of a young boy’s search for truth beyond legend. But I’m so pleased that Rosekrans was given this assignment by Hougton Mifflin. I had hoped to work with her again on my story Suddenly the Cat, but a lot of years have gone by now, and it seems to me more likely that the illustrations for that book will be done by Dave Rauscher, the wonderful artist who worked with me on the illustrations for a much later story A Ghost in Silence. 
And here is the book’s back. Notice that the illustrations are three-color. It is far less expensive than four-color and yet much richer than most black and white. A good choice by Houghton and very well executed by Rosekrans.
Copyright © 2004 Robert Locke |