From Publishers Weekly
Swanson (Letter to the Lake) and Davenier (the Iris and Walter books) make much of a modest premise in this affectionate and inviting tale, in which a seven-year-old remembers the ways her family has celebrated her name. "Lucy," she tells us, was the first word her mother said to her. Her uncle painted her name on a stepstool. Her father made her pancakes in the shapes of the letters: "My name tasted wonderful," she remembers. In Davenier's (the Iris and Walter books) kinetic mixed-media drawing, Lucy stands over the table, looking on with fascination as her father eases a pancake "L" onto her plate. On the opposite page, she sits with her arms around her middle, jam smeared all over her cheeks, eyes closed, with a contented smile on her lips. On her seventh birthday, her family (now including a younger sister) celebrates with a birthday cake out on the porch, and Lucy's mother gives her a flashlight. In a final exuberant spread, Lucy uses the beam of light to write her name across the night sky. Davenier delights in the smears and scribbles Lucy and her sister leave behind. Calligraphic strokes across mirrors, shirts, playgrounds, etc., become signatures of the girls' discovery of the world around them. Like the lived-in look of the art, Swanson's simple, expressive language is just right for the story of a girl whose family adores her, and who grows securely within that love. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
reSchool-Grade 2-A pleasing departure from the trend toward books that deal with a child's dislike of his or her name, this title begins, "When I was born, the first thing my mama told me was my name." Lucy's name comes from a "long-ago word for light" and shines for her as a constant reminder of her uniqueness and special place in the world. It is iced on her first birthday cake, painted on the stool she uses to get a drink of water, and scribbled everywhere her three-year-old hand can reach. Lucy eats pancakes shaped like the letters of her name and later helps her baby sister finish eating the letters of hers. The story ends as the child receives a flashlight for her seventh birthday; she writes her name in light across the sky, and it goes "flying out into the big, starlit night." Davenier's pencil, ink, and pastel illustrations lend a timeless quality, and details in the pictures enhance the telling, from Lucy's name embroidered on her pom-pom cap to her dog licking plates of pancakes and birthday cake. The final spread of Lucy's name in the night sky is the only illustration in which color extends to the edges of the pages, filling them with her exuberance and contentment. This book could be well used as a cozy bedtime story or with a group of preschoolers taking the first important steps toward writing and celebrating their own names, and will make a welcome addition to most collections.
Martha Link, Louisville Free Public Library, KYCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
