Anna's Corn [Hardcover]

Barbara Santucci (Author), Lloyd Bloom (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

Anna is reluctant to plant the kernels of corn her grandpa has left her upon his death, until she realizes that the act will help her remember the times they listened to the music of the corn together.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Delicately overlapping themes about the cycles of life, Santucci (Loon Lake) crafts a memorable, touching story about the death of a girl's much-loved grandfather. Grandpa teaches Anna that the corn in his fields makes "its own kind of music" and he shows her how to hear it, too: "A sudden gust of wind breathed through the dried corn stalks until a song formed. A raspy song, like Grandpa's voice." Grandpa gives Anna some kernels, and that winter, as he lays ill, he makes her promise to plant them. Shortly afterward he dies, and Anna wrestles with her promise. "If I bury them, they'll be gone forever," she tells her mother. Bloom (A Man Named Thoreau) contributes some of his most affecting work yet, rendering his soulful, folksy compositions in a restrained blend of graphite, watercolor pencils and pastels. His nuanced use of color subtly draws readers' attention to changes in the seasons that correspond to the changes in Anna's feelings. For example, when Anna finally resolves to plant the corn, Bloom shows her smiling in the field; light browns and grays (used for the soil, Anna's clothing, parts of the sky, etc.) dominate the illustration, while a patch of green in the distance reinforces the springtime setting, with its promise of renewal, as well as the rebirth of Anna's hopes. Not only useful for readers coping with bereavement, this work is resonant in its own right as a celebration of continuity, in nature and in the heart. Ages 6-up.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-4-In the fall, Anna loves to walk through the drying cornfield with her grandfather. The raspy, crackling music of the stalks has the same quality as his aging voice. On one walk, he gives her a few kernels of corn to plant in the spring, and then he falls ill. After his death during the winter, Anna becomes reluctant to plant the seeds and lose them, too. With patient understanding and encouragement from her mother, the child grows to the realization that planting the seeds will renew her memories, and give her a chance to hear Grandpa's voice and the corn music again. The colored-pencil, graphite, and soft-pastel illustrations reinforce the hushed quality of the story. Following the same style that he used in Libba Moore Gray's When Uncle Took the Fiddle (Orchard, 1999), Bloom uses elongated figures that echo the corn plants swaying in the wind. The harmony of text and pictures is apparent in the muted colors and gentle figures. This quiet, reflective story can help children to accept the cycles of life and death, and the importance of memories in working through the grieving process. They can read this book on their own, but it will serve better if shared with an adult.-Carolyn Janssen, Children's Learning Center of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers (July 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802851193
• ISBN-13: 978-0802851192
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,017,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Death to Life, October 29, 2003

By 

Colleen M. McDonald (Rockford, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anna's Corn (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful story with a reassuring message, poetically stated, without hitting the reader over the head.

The basic plot is this: Anna and her grandfather have a close, loving relationship. When he dies, she grieves. She fears she has lost him forever. But in carrying out a promise she made to him before his death, she finds her grandfather again, in the things he taught her.

This is an autumn story-- it begins and ends in fall-- and the cycle of the seasons mirrors Anna's grieving process. The illustrations are soft and tender.

I told this story to a multi-generational group; the children were attentive, and the adults were moved.

This book would be useful for a family anticipating the death of a grandparent, as well as for those grieving a death.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Touching Story, June 12, 2011

By 

Ohioan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Anna's Corn (Hardcover)

This is a touching story that will bring tears to many eyes, particularly to those who are farmers. It's a story of death, loss, and remembering.

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!, December 8, 2008

By 

J. Kelley (Palatine, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anna's Corn (Hardcover)

This beautifully written story and illustrations warmed my heart and brought me to tears over and over alone and with my children. My father, a farmer from Central Illinois, died this last February. He had a poem at his funeral that said to not cry but look for him in the snow and the fields and the wind. The glint in the snow this week has been my reminder of him and then this book is given to me as a gift this first hard holiday season. God knew. Thanks!