Ma Dear's Old Green House [Hardcover]

Denise Lewis Patrick (Author), Sonia Lynn Sadler (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2004 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

All of us have special places in our childhood memories. They are happy places, fun places. They are places where unique people live. They are places that elicit warm, comforting and safe feelings. They are places we want to visit again and again.

MaDear's old green house is such as place. There, Sunday morning breakfast is an event. Hide and go seek is more than just a game. The tall pecan tree isnÂ’t just a familiar landmark. It's a place to rest and dream. At MaDearÂ’s old green house nurturing relatives come and go. YouÂ’re surrounded by a nourishing and caring community. And there is freedom to jump, to skip, to run and to grow.

Denise Lewis PatrickÂ’s own childhood memories of visits with her grandmother are the inspiration for this poignant story. Through heartwarming and lyrical prose, Patrick shares memories of summers at her special place: MaDearÂ’s old green house. It is a place all children should have a chance to visit at least once. PatrickÂ’s moving story is beautifully illustrated by Sonia Lynn SadlerÂ’s bold and vibrant scratchboard images.

Much may change around us. We grow older. We move. A special place, however, lives forever—-just like MaDear’s old green house.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3 - An African-American child reminisces about happy, fun-filled summers at her grandmother's house. She describes special times spent on Ma Dear's porch, playing hide-and-seek, watching cars go by, and eating "messy watermelons/with lots of salt/seeing who could spit seeds/the farthest." She also recalls learning to ride a bicycle and snuggling up in bed with cousins and whispering all night long. Sadler's colorful acrylic scratchboard images are a wonderful complement to the text, filling the pages with the exuberance of youth and the essence of those summer days. This heartwarming story is just right for intergenerational sharing and is sure to evoke family memories. - Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 2. Any child--but especially one whose grandparents dwell down South--will appreciate the comfy pleasures of grandma's house evoked in this affectionate picture book. Patrick fleshes out her memories of summering at Ma Dear's green house in loving, elegiac detail, recalling taking a bath in a tin washtub because "there was no bathtub in the bathroom!" nestling -under quilts "that used to live as our mothers' shirts and skirts and dresses," and savoring biscuits "all buttery and oozing grape jelly." In contrast to the text's highly personal tone, Sadler's scratchboard tableaux of almost monumental African American figures, in stained-glass colors and riotous patterns, adroitly emphasize the universality of the family pride and childhood exuberance underlying the words. Reminiscent of Faith Ringgold's or David Diaz' accessible, folk-art styles, Sadler's compelling interpretations of a relatively predictable, nostalgic text augurs the arrival of a promising new talent. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Just Us Books (October 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940975556
• ISBN-13: 978-0940975552
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,835,498 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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