Overview / 简介: |
| As water pours over the wheel of a busy sawmill in Virginia, a stranger tells Old Sam, the owner, that he wants to learn the trade. Old Sam is happy to take on a hired hand, and Young Sam, his son, is glad to have someone to boss around. One day, an old farmer complains about a misery in his back. The New Hand offers to fix him up, and when he does, the farmer is not only cured, he’s young again! But when conniving Young Sam tries to do the same, he finds himself in big trouble. Can the New Hand set things right? |
From Organization / 国外机构评价: |
| Kindergarten-Grade 4. The Hired Hand explores the danger associated with stealing someone's magic. It echoes this talented team's collaboration for The Talking Eggs (Dial, 1989) in its distinguished appearance, understated mood, straightforward retelling, and even pace. The story spins around a New Hand at a sawmill who returns youthfulness to an old man, and a miller's son who tries unsuccessfully to duplicate that feat for profit. San Souci makes a choice in favor of "softening the heavy use of dialect," found in the original tale. Pinkney adopts a corresponding tone in his illustrations, polishing any harshness away. Pencil sketches showing through his watercolors add character and interest, but never mar the finish. The result is a first-class treat for readers' eyes and ears. However, the prettiness has a price. The beauty (each illustration perfectly composed and delivered in a charming palette of subdued colors; each bit of dialogue tastefully framed; each character devastatingly handsome) keeps drawing readers' attention back to the surface, to the elegance of the presentation. Beneath that surface, down where the folktale's dynamic themes of filial disobedience, sin and redemption, and the search for immortality all converge, is where the real power lies. Libraries looking for African-American folktales should consider this title and bask in the splendor of its delivery. For fun, pair it with dePaola's Strega Nona (S&S, 1975), in which another magician wannabe misses the master's nuance.?Liza Bliss, Worcester Public Library, MA |
About the Author / 作者介绍: |
| Robert D. San Souci lives in the San Francisco Bay area. Jerry Pinkney lives in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. |
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