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Title: Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey ISBN: 0-670-71512-3 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: December, 1957 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A lyrical, poetic evocation of a childhood summer in Maine
Comment: The most poetic of Robert McCloskey's children's books, "Time of Wonder" evokes a childhood summer in Maine. The two girls in the illustrations, never named as the book is written in the second person, are a little more grown up than Sal and Jean in McCloskey's "One Morning in Maine." (The first book in McCloskey's Maine trilogy is, of course, "Blueberries for Sal.")
The places and names are real. McCloskey's descriptions of his adopted home area of northeast coastal Maine make me want to move there, at least for the summer. A late spring rain causing fiddlehead ferns to grow; summer afternoons diving off the age-old rocks; evening sailboat rides; preparing for an end-of-season storm and surveying the altered landscape the next morning; and the final bittersweet packing up, bringing home a few island treasures and adjusting the clock from the rise and fall of the tide to the come and go of the schoolbus ("And children, don't forget your toothbrushes") -- all these images are rendered so lyrically that you can read "Time of Wonder" 274 times to your toddler and never want to rush through it to the end.
Treasure this book. It should have a permanent place in your library.
Rating: 5
Summary: Robert McCloskey examines a summer in Maine
Comment: Robert McCloskey's "Time of Wonder" is just that--an examination of a wondrous summer spent in Maine. He follows two sisters (and nominally, their parents and friends) as they spend their days sailing, swimming, battening down for a big storm, and so on. Nothing of great import happens, but McCloskey has a lovely, calming way of relating their story so that we feel the sisters' closeness, their connection to their environment, and their childlike ability to find beauty and interest in nearly everything.
McCloskey's book was first published in 1957, and the illustrations show this--no life vests in a lot of the boating pictures, children swimming without being watched over by a lifeguard or adult, and so on. Still, that's not a bad thing--it shows the protective, exclusionary nature of childhood and the risks children take without even being fully aware that they ARE taking risks.
The illustrations are lovely. These paintings depict Maine as being beautiful without neglecting to show the dangerous side of coastal life as well (witness the storm scenes towards the end of the book). There is a caressing, rhythmic feel to the text which subtly imitates the tidal pull of the ocean. What a perfect gift for anyone who vacations in Maine--or wants to.
Rating: 4
Summary: Time keeps on slipping
Comment: (...)
The story, such as it is, follows a family in their summer home on an island in the ocean. Mostly following the children, the story reflects on the wonders of nature itself. The kids walk out into the mist on warm summery mornings. They leap from high ocean rocks, and sun themselves as the rocks grow warm. They sail a boat at night (they've fairly trusting parents, I'd wager) to spy on deep water crabs. Eventually, a hurricane comes to batter the family in their sturdy little home. In the end, the family must return to their real house/life/school and wait to return to the island another year. As they leave, the narrator opines that such moments as these make living a real time of wonder. A time for pondering things like, "I wonder where hummingbirds go in a hurricane".
Working in a medium unlike his usual pencils and inks, McCloskey seemed to draw the images in this book from a very private source. Though you may never have been in a summer home such as this or experienced moments like the ones the children go through, you feel the nostalgia embedded in this story. I may not have ever summered in places where I could make forts out of huge sea stones, but after reading this book I know what it would be like. People may say books such as this don't move quickly enough for kids today. Don't believe it. Kids are kids and good books are good books. The child that appreciates Elmo's World is still going to feel a sense of (for lack of a better word) wonder when they stare at the picture of the hurricane blowing the house's inhabitants in all directions. Kids interested in technical ship jargon and the process of buying supplies before a big storm will be fascinated by this tale as well. Some stories do not age. Others, age in such a way that they become deep and full-bodied like a good fine wine. "A Time of Wonder" falls into the latter category. Take a moment to enjoy it fully.
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Title: One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffin) by Robert McCloskey ISBN: 0140501746 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: September, 1976 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey ISBN: 014050169X Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: September, 1976 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey ISBN: 0670451495 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: January, 1941 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: Burt Dow, Deep-Waterman: A Tale of the Sea in the Classic Tradition (Picture Puffins) by Robert McCloskey ISBN: 014050978X Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: April, 1989 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Lentil (Picture Puffins) by Robert McCloskey ISBN: 0140502874 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: April, 1978 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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