The House with No Door: African Riddle-Poems [Hardcover]

Brian Swann (Author), Ashley Bryan (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Browndeer Press

When is a riddle not a riddle? When it's a riddle-poem! Riddle poems are unique. The succinct poetic images in this delightful and often moving collection have been gathered from various African sources by Brian Swann, a preeminent scholar, poet, and collector of riddles from around the globe. Warm and colorful paintings by renowned author-illustrator Ashley Bryan make this book a treasure. There are twenty-two poetic visions to ponder in this noteworthy collection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like his earlier Touching the Distance: Native American Riddle-Poems, these original, laconic verses are based on Swann's collection of riddles, but this time they hail from Africa. One of the more successful riddles, "I have a house/ that has no door," begins the volume; Bryan's (The Story of the Three Kingdoms) illustration opens up the possibilities of a solution by showing animals and birds dwelling in the trunk of a tree, a lion in a nearby den and the riddle's answer: an egg in a treetop nest. Another example, among the most striking of the spreads, is a landscape of mountain goats ("The white goats/ are drifting/ down/ from the mountain") paired with a dazzling kaleidoscope of jewel-like snowflakes. Author and illustrator encourage readers to find numerous answers to the more open-ended riddles. Despite Bryan's brilliantly evocative watercolors, too many of the riddles seem beyond the reach of the target audience. Even when superimposed over a painting of two children standing before a stream, the answer to the riddle "I stepped on it./ It stepped on me," ("water") may elude and perhaps even frustrate some children. At times, the paintings themselves add confusion to the search for possible solutions: (e.g., the riddle about camouflage, "The spots are leaving./ They are going into hiding," shows two nearly identical paintings of a giraffe, deer, leopard and snake, in which the spots are equally visible, not at all hidden). If Swann's riddles were less tersely ambiguous and Bryan's paintings less visually complex, perhaps young readers would be better able to guess the answers without turning to the answer key at the end of the book. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
Riddle
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1 edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152008055
• ISBN-13: 978-0152008055
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,475,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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