Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | EASY CHA | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | PICTURE BOOK CHA | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Up north ath the cabin,
I am a great gray dolphin.
The lake is my ocean...
Up north at the cabin,
I am a fearless voyageur,
guiding our canoe through the wilderness...
Up north at the cabin
I am always brave --
even in the dark woods,
when blood thumps through my head
like old Ojiway drums.
The magic of summer, the call of the north woods, and the exuberance of childhood imagination combine here to create a book that will be treasured long after the last autumn leaf has fallen.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-4--Chall offers readers a trip to the north woods through her carefully chosen words and Johnson's lush paintings. A young girl anticipates her arrival at the beloved cabin, experiences nature's wonders while there, and returns home with her fond memories until the next summer. Each segment of the child's narrative prose poem is accompanied by wonderful, evocative, full-page oil paintings of the family enjoying the lake and the surrounding wood. Up North at the Cabin is to Minnesota what McCloskey's Time of Wonder (Viking, 1957) is to Maine. To read it is to feel the summer breezes--whatever your location, whatever the time of year.--Kathleen Whalin, Belfast Public Library, ME (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
With evocative prose, Chall conjures up in her debut book the magic of idyllic childhood summers. Her creative use of language brings to life local flora and fauna as viewed through the eyes of a sensitive, enthusiastic city girl--a moose stands ``like a house on stilts,'' cabins are built with logs like ``shiny pretzels.'' In unaffected vignettes (the book has no real story line) the young vacationer baits her fishing hook with peanut butter sandwiches, canoes ``through the wilderness'' and embraces the thrill of water skiing. Johnson's ( The Frog Prince , Continued ; The Salamander Room ) textured oil paintings, daubed with bold brushstrokes, produce a breadth of vision that evokes universal experience. The artwork's smudged effect suggests the haziness of memory in conjunction with sun-dappled days and atmospherically conveys family quiet times, the mysteries deep within cool woods and the invigoration of outdoor sports. This gratifying warm-weather book will surely be savored again when ``frosted windows cloud the sun.'' Ages 5-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
As the young narrator describes her days in this best beloved of all vacation spots, the reader senses that it has given her childhood's ultimate freedom. Johnson's paintings provide stunning impressions of landscapes and extend the text to its full potential. From HORN BOOK 1992, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Happy summer days in Minnesota's north woods are evoked in a generously large book with full-bleed paintings whose lush colors are echoed in the ground of the opposing text to make harmonious double spreads. Johnson (The Frog Prince Continued, 1991) breaks new ground here with glowing colors, beautifully observed light, and artfully spare compositions; you can almost feel the sun's last rays or hear the water's lap. Meanwhile, Chall's simple, nicely honed text (her first) recounts the summer's pleasures-- the sunshine that ``sits in my lap all morning'' on the journey north; everyone sitting on the same side of the table ``so we can all watch the loons''; swimming underwater; hearing a moose bellow a warning; water skiing; remembering an Ojibway legend while walking in the dark. Without the compelling drama of McCloskey's Time of Wonder, but--as a vibrant, affectionate tribute to another region--a worthy of standing on the same shelf. (Picture book. 4-9)
Booklist Review
Ages 4-8. A girl's joyful summer in a cabin on the northern lakes is captured in richly colored, unframed paintings of stunning contrast. The deep, dark north woods, shadowy and close, suddenly open up to dazzling light on the wide waters of the lake. Like the pictures, the spare, lyrical text also emphasizes the intense opposites of the remote place: the girl who knows the way "by heart" is dreamy and still; then she's wild and shouting, exhilarated as she dares the waves on water skis. Without some story, some tension, the sense of place is not quite enough to hold kids. Still, especially with the current ecology awareness, the wilderness scenes will be a special pleasure for those who know and long for quiet solitude, where you can feel in touch with the past and with a natural world beyond yourself. (Reviewed May 15, 1992)0688097324Hazel Rochman
