Title
The Sand Children,Used
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From School Library Journal PreSchoolGrade 2This picture book takes on a mythical quality as a father and his young son build a sand giant: "We made his hair with dried seaweed and shaped his teeth like little sand turrets." At sunset, when the two of them return to their campsite on the dunes, the youngster watches as a group of children descend upon his creation, trampling the sandpail castles that surround the figure. The boy's fear that the giant, too, will be destroyed is never realized; the trespassers seem to respect him: "They patted and hugged and stroked him. Then they waved goodbye." That night, as the youngster looks out into the moonlight, he sees the giant fashioning a set of sand children. The boy joins in, adding faces to these sand people, and they come to life and laugh and play. The next morning, only the giant remains; he is once again seated in the same place but surrounded by footprints. Although the story is a bit of a stretch, the illustrations are beautifully done; they glow with deep blues, purples, and gold. The richness of the colors bathe the figures in a kind of shadowy mystery that beckons readers to join in the fun.Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description A boy and his father make a sand giant while camping at the beach, and during the night it comes to life to make sand children From Publishers Weekly Dunbar's (This Is the Star) evocative tale of a sand creature who comes to life in the dreams of a boy suggests a summertime version of Raymond Briggs's The Snowman. During a seaside camping trip, a boy and his father spend the day building castles and a grand sand giant on the beach. The sun sets on their fun and the boy has anxious thoughts about his creation being destroyed during the night by the tide or perhaps by some rambunctious kids. But in the magical glow of moonlight, the boy frolics with the giant and the sand children that the giant has constructed. Upon waking up in the tent, the boyAand readersAwonder whether the nighttime adventure really happened. Though Dunbar's premise is intriguing, her story unfolds at a somewhat choppy pace, slowed by clunky matteroffact sentences (e.g., after the boy completes his sand giant: "I sat down by his side. I leaned on his great round belly and grinned at his great big grin. We both sat staring out to sea"). Edwards marks his picture book debut with grainy paintings bathed in appropriately changing light. Several warm portraits of the boy and his father are appealing, but the pages are crowded (with insets, vignettes, threequarter spreads) and the interpretation of the toothy, wildeyed giant and his revels is rather too literalminded for the more openended text. Ages 38. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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