![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude. Delightful and informative but never didactic: a splendid debut. The appealingly furry, wide-eyed, fawn-colored bats have both scientific precision and real character they're displayed against intense skies or the soft browns and greens of the woodland in spare, beautifully constructed (occasionally even humorous) compositions. Her illustrations, in luminous acrylics and color pencils, are exquisite. With a warm, nicely honed narration, Cannon strikes just the right balance between accurate portrayal of the bats and the fantasy that dramatizes their characteristics. Dutifully, she tries to accommodate-she eats insects, hangs head up, and sleeps at night, as Mama Bird says she must-but once Stellaluna learns to fly, it's a huge relief when her own mother finds her and explains that the behavior that comes naturally is appropriate to her species. Attacked by an owl, Stellaluna (a fruit bat) is separated from her mother and taken in by a bird and her nestlings. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |