Dreamplace

In the manner of Lyon and Catalanotto's other visions of the past as immanent in the present (Who Came Down That Road?, 1992): a glimpse of the Anasazi as vividly imagined by a child visiting the ruins at Colorado's Mesa Verde. Moving quickly from the everyday reality of ``yucca, pinyon, juniper and tourists. It's all plain as beans'' to the awe inspired by the monochromatic ancient ruins tucked precariously into a cliff, Lyon's spare, poetic text is a dreamlike reverie animated with concrete details of Anasazi life. Meanwhile, Catalanotto's luminous watercolors, their edges artfully undefined, capture the desert light in a carefully muted palette with the effect of photos lovingly tinted by hand; the spread where the shadowy Anasazi and the modern visitors appear together is so carefully designed that the meaning is absolutely clear. A poignant conclusion powerfully evokes the hold that this extraordinary, long-deserted site exerts on anyone who has ever seen it: ``...and then one day / when even trees were hungry/[they] turned their backs/and let it go.'' The best yet from a uniquely gifted team. (Picture book. 4- 8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

As in their previous collaboration Who Came Down That Road? , Lyon and Catalanotto here offer an atmospheric, shimmering glance backwards--this time at the Anasazi pueblos at Mesa Verde. Although Lyon's poem is told from the point of view and in the tone of a reflective adult, Catalanotto wisely focuses the story through his luminous paintings on the experiences of a girl who visits the canyon as a tourist. She imagines--as if she were dreaming, seeing through the scrim of historical time--the Pueblo people who 800 years before "plaited sandals, wove baskets / coiled clay into pots." Then, "one day / when even trees were hungry / they turned their backs" on their cliff dwellings "leaving us / far in the future" standing "amazed / at the people / who built this dream / who lit its walls / with fire and stories." In both style and content, the lyrical text may be a bit sophisticated for young readers, but Catalanotto's extraordinary watercolors clarify this journey through time. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.