Edna

Description

From School Library Journal Grade 3-5-This book essays much: biographical sketch, introduction to a poem, a verbal snapshot of the Bohemian life in Greenwich Village at the turn of the century, and a first-person storytelling style. Burleigh conveys Edna St. Vincent Millay's love of her life among the struggling young artists of New York including the advantages of cheap restaurants and free entertainment. One of the best bargains was the Staten Island ferry ride. It was from one of these heady excursions that Millay later wrote the poem "Recuerdo," which is appended in full. Burleigh's attempt to capture Millay's voice is not entirely successful. The narrative is infused with optimism, but doesn't convey a sense of the legendary volatility of this poet who defied convention with triumphant abandon. The illustrations, executed in gouache and ink, are competent but fail to suggest adequately the crazy quilt of narrow lanes and inaccessible garrets that were Millay's world. An afterword includes slight biographical material. There is no real story here, so the book may find its best use as supporting material for poetry units that include Millay and her work. Still, there is no bibliography and no attribution for the few direct quotes used.Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more From Booklist Written from the viewpoint of Edna St. Vincent Millay, this picture book, the background of one her poems, offers readers a glimpse of life in New York at the end of the Great War. Millay describes living as a poet in a poor but happy Greenwich Village community of artists and writers. She next tells of riding the Staten Island Ferry all night with a friend and returning to buy a newspaper from an old woman: "we gave her everything^-our apples, our pears, and most of the little money we had!" Millay then writes a poem about that night. Teachers may use this book to show the transformation of a person's experience in an inspired work of poetry (the poem appears at the book's conclusion), but the text offers such a self-satisfied portrayal of Millay that many readers will be put off. Even Joanna Yardley's illustrations, skillful ink-and-gouache paintings, which sensitively evoke the time and place, picture Millay always smiling. Since the poem is more often read in high school than in kindergarten (the publisher recommends the book for grades K^-4), this will probably have a limited audience. Given that the poem itself is so accessible, why not just read the original one more time? Carolyn Phelan Read more From Kirkus Reviews Young environmentalists should enjoy this suspenseful novel about a boy fighting his fathers employer to save an endangered bird. Taylors father, Tom, is the gamekeeper for Mr. Harris, who breeds pheasants as game for hunters on his English country estate. Harris, a thoroughly loathsome villain, despises all predators as vermin, especially birds of prey. Taylor has been raised with the same values and willingly helps his father kill these animals until he learns that an endangered bird, a red kite, has nested in the area. Taylor steals its eggs on orders from Harris. But knowing that only 24 kites remain in Britain, he saves one egg. Taylor and his friend, Alan, secretly raise the chick, name her Teresa, and release her into the wild, hoping she can survive. Harris shoots her and remains determined to find and kill the wounded bird. Taylor and his father must wrestle with moral choices and the probability that they will lose their home and income if they help the beautiful creature, but the struggle helps them to rebuild their own relationship. Burgess includes explanations of the British gamekeeping system and the history of red kites for American readers, so that it is clear why the situation even exists. Sometimes funny, often gripping, Burgesss (Smack, 1998, etc.) powerful story will give readers something to think about for a long time. (authors note) (Fiction. 10-14) . . . Burleigh, Robert EDNA Illus. by Joanna Yardley Orchard (32 pp.) $15.95 paper $16.99 paper 0-531-33246-2 Burleigh (Hercules, 1999, etc.) and Yardley (The Bracelet, 1993, etc.) have imagined how the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay might have been inspired to write one of her most famous poems, Recuerdo. The gouache and pen-and-ink illustrations reflect the Greenwich Village of the late teens and early 20s of the past century in matte and somewhat static tableaux. Edna lives in the Village, loves its twisty small streets, loves her life with her friends, writers, and artists, staging plays and readings for each other. She loves the city, and spends a night riding back and forth on the Staten Island Ferry with a friend. It is her memory of that night that grows, like a seed sprouting, says the text, into the poem that begins, We were very tired, we were very merry / We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry. Burleigh has translated Millays passion and exuberance into a series of exclamation points that unfortunately captures neither, and the poem itself tells the story of how the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold much better than the picture book manages. None of the magic of the Michael Bedard/Barbara Cooney Emily (1992), alas. (afterword) (Picture book. 5-9)-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Read more About the Author Robert Burleigh is the author of many books for children including Flight: the journey of Charles Lindbergh, which won the Orbus Pictus award. He lives in Chicago, Illinois. Read more