Ted Lewin (1935–2021)

I picked up this book by Jane Yolen because I was familiar with other popular titles of hers..."Owl Moon" and "Encounter" I have used in classes before. Also, I love birds and am an amateur bird watcher. I was not disappointed. The first poem in the collection ,"Bird Watcher" establishes the mood of the text...soft, dreamy, with a deep reverence for nature. As I read I feel a stillness and peace, the stillness required when watching birds and the peace that comes with immersion in the show more natural world. Yolen continues her exploration of the avian world with lyrical poetry that that paints pictures of robins, swans, woodpeckers, nestlings , and ducks with the eyes of a poet and bird lover. Imagery such as "His swift ratatatatat is as casual as a jackhammer on a city street ,as thorough as an oil drill on an Oklahoma wellsite ,as fine as a needle in a record groove, as cleansing as a dentist's probe in a mouthful of cavities..." (from "Woodpecker") evokes sounds. Endpages include facts about birds including scientific name and habitat. Illustrations by Ted Lewin are soft watercolors that mimic the quiet and stillness of the poetry. An excellent book of poems for bird lovers! A great book to bring along on a queit morning walk in the woods. show less

This is part of Holiday House's I Like to Read series, which, as I'm sure you know, I am generally not a fan of. However, some of the titles are decent and, more importantly, the kids really like them. They've been specifically requested by an early literacy/beginning reader class that meets at the library and my colleague who works with them. So, I've been read as many as I can borrow to find some that will meet both my aesthetic standards and the needs of my patrons.

I had high hopes of show more this book, as it's a guessing game and my patrons absolutely love those - Edward Gibbs' I Spy titles are some of their favorites. However, there were several issues with this book, primarily with the art, that made it a disappointment to me.

The book is set up as a series of questions. The first page asks "What am I?" and shows a small thumbnail of an animal against a white background. The next spread shows a full picture of the animal, identifies it, and asks "Where am I?" with the next page showing the animal in its habitat. The animals pictured are a lion, reindeer, camel, sea otter, and tiger. The last pages shows a boy standing in front of a picture of the earth and says "What am I? I am a boy. I am on the beautiful earth."

I am not personally a fan of Lewin's watercolors - I find them washed out and static. However, they can be lovely in certain settings when they fit the text well. However, I felt this was a bad choice for this text. Only the lion and possibly the tiger are identifiable. The reindeer is represented with some gray horns which could be pretty much any type of horned animal. The camel is a mess of fur - absolutely no kid I ever met is going to think of camel. The sea otter is a blur of white and gray and only when you turn the page do you realize it's meant to be a section of its whiskers. For a title that is supposed to be assisting kids in learning to read, the illustrations should be simple and to the point, not distract attention from the text or confuse the reader.

Verdict: Not recommended. Try Edward Gibbs or Laura Hulbert instead for guessing books.

ISBN: 9780823428564; Published 2013 by Holiday House; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

The Longest Night, by Marion Dane Bauer, illustrated by Ted Lewin (2009)

“The snow lies deep.

The night is long and long.

The stars are ice, the moon a frost,

and all the world is still.”

So opens this quiet, magical celebration of the winter solstice. Bauer and Lewin match prose and paintings in a luminous portrayal of the long, cold night and animals awaiting the return of the sun. The wind is the wise one, “the bitter wind” who knows what the animals do not. Crow, “the show more night-dark crow” is the first to boast that he is the one, the one to bring back the sun, using his strong wings to reach the sun, his strong beak to poke him awake. “Not you,” sighs the wind. “Not you.” And so Wind denies “the mighty moose” with “antlers strong enough to scoop up the sun and bring it home” and the “clever fox” with a keen nose to find the sun’s hiding spot. When small Chickadee asks who will bring back the sun, Wind says, “You … only you.” The larger animals jeer, yet Chickadee does “what chickadees do best.” She sings her ”dee-dee-dee,” … and the sun smiles.

This is the essence of an Everybody book, a picture book to be enjoyed by all ages. On the surface, young children will love the repetition of the wind’s “sha” calls and the animals’ boasts. Older children and adults will admire Lewin’s realistic depictions of the night world beneath a full moon’s glow. They will find the deeper meaning in the themes of darkness and light, that we need both in our world, for they reflect one another. I love the repetitious language: “long and long”, “moose, the mighty moose”, “fox, the clever fox” which lends emphasis to important points. Lewin’s paintings are amazing in their detail and in the feelings they generate: of warmth despite the coldness of winter and night; of the fox’s face which looks clever and sly; of the sleeping bear, which could almost be a dark jumble of forested boulders, and the “velvet mice” curled together beneath the bear’s shadow. I read this book every winter solstice, share it with family and friends and think about the comfort of long winter nights to read and think and write, cuddle up by a fire, and wait for spring. show less

I liked how this book showed the ways in which different cultures around the world host their markets where they sell food, clothing, and other things. It was almost like a mini world trip.