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Summary
Summary
A Caldecott medalist and a Newbery Honor-winning poet celebrate the beauty and value of spirals.What makes the tiny snail shell so beautiful? Why does that shape occur in nature over and over again--in rushing rivers, in a flower bud, even inside your ear?
With simplicity and grace, Joyce Sidman's poetry paired with Beth Krommes's scratchboard illustrations not only reveal the many spirals in nature--from fiddleheads to elephant tusks, from crashing waves to spiraling galaxies--but also celebrate the beauty and usefulness of this fascinating shape.
Author Notes
Poet and author Joyce Sidman was born in Hartford, Connecticut on June 4, 1956. She received a B.A. in German from Wesleyan University and earned her teacher's certificate in 1983. Sidman teaches poetry and is a columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. She has published several children's books, including Red Sings from Treetops, and she won the New Women's Voices award for Like the Air.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This is one of those rare children's books that make you look at the physical world differently. "A spiral is a clever shape. It is graceful and strong," writes Newbery Honor artist Sidman (Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night), as she and Caldecott Medalist Krommes (The House in the Night) explore spirals found in nature. A spiral, Sidman decides, is nature's elegant solution in many respects: "It fits neatly in small places" (hence the sleeping position of burrow-dwelling animals), it offers protection and strength (the defensive curl of the porcupine), and it provides firm grasps (monkey's tail, elephant's trunk). But beyond these utilitarian advantages, spirals are beautiful-whether we see in them hints of infinity, the promise of unfolding potential, or the embodiment of mathematical perfection. This feast for thought is a visual banquet, as well: working in her signature scratchboard style and employing a gorgeous burnished palette, Krommes creates spiral-packed nature scenes that have a timeless, classic beauty. Whether she's portraying a tiny curled eastern chipmunk or a classic funnel tornado, it's clear that nature isn't the only master at work. Ages 4-8. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Newbery Honor-winning poet Sidman turns her craft to a nonfiction picture book text: "A spiral is a snuggling shape. It fits neatly in small places. Coiled tight, warm and safe, it waits...for a chance to expand." Caldecott medalist Krommes's scratchboard illustrations suffuse every spread with color, shape, and movement, vividly depicting spirals in nature "[unwrapping themselves], one soft curl at a time" in a stand of lady ferns, or being "bold" in breaking ocean waves. Each spread presents an entire landscape in varying palettes, with a treasure trove of details that will captivate the youngest readers for hours. The spirals described in the text are discretely called out in the illustrations with italic labels that curve along the outlines of the harvest mouse's tail, or the cross section of a nautilus shell. (On one spread only, the labels confuse: a labeled red fox is not a spiral.) Though one could read the story of spirals here solely through the pictures, Sidman's very simple text provides the perfect backdrop: powerful, poetic, good for reading aloud and reading again. The very few words per page hold their own visually, in a large font placed on the only white space provided. A single spread at the close gives more details about the role of spirals in the particular animals, plants, and elements described. From the endpapers that gather together all the spirals depicted to the spiraling text on the title page verso, this book is elegantly constructed, and as poetry, picture book, or nonfiction, a success in every way. nina lindsay (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Written by the author of the Newbery Honor Book Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night (2010) and illustrated by the Caldecott Award winner of The House in the Night (2008), this unique picture book explores spirals in nature. Each new section of the precisely worded, free-verse text begins with the word. A spira. and succinctly considers one facet of the shape as it is expressed in the natural world. A spiral is a snuggling shap. begins the first section, illustrated with a cross-sectional view of a hillside with small animals curled up in their underground dens. Other sections present the spiral a. a strong shape. a clever shape. an. a shape that reaches out. The open-ended quality of the verse and the visual nature of the subject create plenty of opportunities for the art. The striking scratchboard illustrations use black lines, shapes, and crosshatched shading on white backgrounds to create strong compositions, while watercolor washes add subtle warmth and brilliance. Even the endpapers teem with spiral forms, such as curling fern heads, coiled snakes, a swirling galaxy, and the curving grasp of an elephant's trunk. Two appended pages of notes expand on the book's ideas. There are, of course, many school uses for this, but just reading it aloud at home will make the everyday fascinating.--Phelan, Caroly. Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-Simple science and stunning artwork spell success in this sensational look at a shape found fairly frequently in nature. From the shell of a snail to the starry arms of a spiral galaxy, the colorful scratchboard spreads capture these micro and macro worlds in show-stopping style. (Sept.) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
(Informational picture book. 2-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
