Nanta is curious. She has heard the hunter's stories about the lion that roams the plains. She wants to see the lion for herself. Nanta slips out of her village and walks and walks but never sees the lion. Where is he? Visual clues encourage young readers to join Nanta's search. Full-color illustrations.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Caldecott Honor artist MacDonald (Alphabatics) makes hay with an unusual format, using die-cut half pages to deliver a snazzy surprise ending. "Far away in Africa," an inquisitive Maasai girl sets out to see the lion that has been attacking the villagers' cattle. Nanta spots indigenous fauna during her trek but, no matter where she looks, "there was no lion." As a series of die-cut partial pages reveals the rolling vistas of a savannah, the reader is unlikely to notice that the pictures on the verso pages are slowly combining to produce an image of a recumbent lion. Foliage on a hilly horizon, for example, becomes the creature's mane; two parrots on the penultimate spread turn out to be the eyes. In the last view, every feature falls into place, and the reader's delight in recognizing the king of the jungle will be deepened by the deadpan text: "Nanta was thirsty after all that walking. She sat down [against the hill that doubles as the lion's flank] to drink her milk. She never did see the lion. Did you?" Ages 3-up.
- to drink her milk. She never did see the lion. Did you?" Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- to drink her milk. She never did see the lion. Did you?" Ages 3-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2?Nanta is curious about the lion that is bothering her Masai village. She sets out alone to look for it but instead finds a water buffalo, gazelle, hippopotamus, stork, monkeys, and parrots. Disappointed in not locating the big cat, she takes a drink and rests, unaware that it is not far away ("She never did see the lion. Did you?") There is a parallel story taking place here, told through the cut-and-shaped pages. As it is turned, each page adds to the previous background until the trees, huts, and hills in the illustrations form the lion himself. Soft, clear colors and a cartoonlike style present a pleasant, uncluttered look. This is a clever but gimmicky book that is strictly an additional purchase for multicultural units.?Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
I can't remember when I first knew I was an artist, because it was something that happened gradually.
I grew up in Glencoe, Illinois. My father was a professor at Northwestern University. My mother was a writer. We spent summers on an old farm in Weston, Vermont. My first art teacher was Churchill Ettinger, a Vermont artist who showed me how to visually transfer and translate the world before me to my paper. I can't remember how long I studied with him but by the time I entered college, I knew that art would be a focus in my life.
Since both of the colleges I attended were liberal arts schools, the courses offered were in the fine arts. No one talked about commercial art. It was considered a waste of one's talents.
I didn't think much about all that then. I just took courses: life drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics. I even made sculptures out of car parts. Nothing I tried felt quite right. I knew I was an artist but where did I fit?
After college, I married, and my husband Stuart and I settled in New York City. I decided to find a job using my artistic talents. After a number of interviews, I contacted Charles Halgren at Caru Studios and discovered that he hired artists to illustrate textbooks from time to time. That sounded like the perfect job for me, so I called him every two weeks for the next nine months. Finally, a new biology book came in and I was employed to do pen and ink illustrations for it.
I stayed at Caru for Five years. It was a wonderful time. The studio employed thirty artists, photographers, draftsmen, and even typesetters (This was before computers, and type was set by hand.). I learned all about the commercial side of art and discovered what a fascinating world it was.
Then my husband and I moved back to the family farm in Weston, Vermont, and took over a construction company. Our move came at a time when I was beginning to feel a lack of growth in my work. I'd done illustrations for all kinds of science texts and was uncertain what to do next. So I was enthusiastic about our move and our new business. I did some office work and architectural design work and drafting, and we raised two children.
However, as time went on, I needed new challenges. Somehow I was off the track. When my second child entered first grade, the time had come to quit my job and return to school. At first I thought I would become an architect. I was good at architectural design and as an architect I could continue to contribute to our business.
I looked around, found the Boston Architectural Center and went down for an interview. While I was visiting a class on that first evening, I realized very suddenly (it was like being hit by lightning) that it was not architecture that I wanted to study, it was illustration. So my search continued, but now I was looking at art schools.
I enrolled in two schools, the New England School of Art and Design and the Art Institute. By taking classes at both, I was able to organize three days of classes each week.
After I began my studies my focus shifted. I no longer wanted to draw things just as they were, I wanted to look at them in new ways: to abstract them. Bill Oakes, one of my teachers, gave me lots of encouragement in this new direction. He wanted his students to question and get away from thinking in preconceived ways. As I studied with him my work began to change.
I also enrolled in Marion Parry's class in children's book writing and illustration at Radcliffe. It was in that seminar that I really became involved in children's books and decided that was where I wanted to concentrate my energies.
After I completed my studies in Boston, I took my portfolio with a variety of picture and story ideas to New York for appointments with editors and art directors at publishing houses. I had a total of forty-seven interviews over a three year period. I kept offering different ideas and suggestions for books. None was taken. But the situation changed with Alphabatics.
I showed the illustrations for just three letters, A, B, and E, to Bradbury Press, a Macmillan imprint. The idea was accepted, and my career as a children's book illustrator began.
Alphabatics is an idea that came to me while taking topography in art school. In the course, I worked exclusively with letter forms, shrinking and expanding them and manipulating their shapes in various ways. I was intrigued by the process and felt there were possibilities for a book. However, it was several years before I worked out the idea.
Publishing Alphabatics, my first, was very exciting. The book was well received and won two prestigious awards: a Caldecott Honor presented by the American Library Association and The Golden Kite Award presented by the Society of Children's Book Writers.
Since Alphabatics I have written and illustrated many books for children, including, most recently, Fish Swish, Spalsh Dash!, a counting book; Shape by Shape and Alphabet Animals for Simon and Schuster's Little Simon imprint. Alphabet Animals won the NAPPA gold medal in 2008, and received first prize in the novelty division at the 2009 New York Book Show.
A great pleasure for me is encouraging readers to go beyond their usual stopping points and make their own artistic discoveries. "Children are inventors, They thrive on situations that bring out that quality of inventiveness." In books like Alphabet Animals, I create opportunities for imagination and originality.
I grew up in Glencoe, Illinois. My father was a professor at Northwestern University. My mother was a writer. We spent summers on an old farm in Weston, Vermont. My first art teacher was Churchill Ettinger, a Vermont artist who showed me how to visually transfer and translate the world before me to my paper. I can't remember how long I studied with him but by the time I entered college, I knew that art would be a focus in my life.
Since both of the colleges I attended were liberal arts schools, the courses offered were in the fine arts. No one talked about commercial art. It was considered a waste of one's talents.
I didn't think much about all that then. I just took courses: life drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics. I even made sculptures out of car parts. Nothing I tried felt quite right. I knew I was an artist but where did I fit?
After college, I married, and my husband Stuart and I settled in New York City. I decided to find a job using my artistic talents. After a number of interviews, I contacted Charles Halgren at Caru Studios and discovered that he hired artists to illustrate textbooks from time to time. That sounded like the perfect job for me, so I called him every two weeks for the next nine months. Finally, a new biology book came in and I was employed to do pen and ink illustrations for it.
I stayed at Caru for Five years. It was a wonderful time. The studio employed thirty artists, photographers, draftsmen, and even typesetters (This was before computers, and type was set by hand.). I learned all about the commercial side of art and discovered what a fascinating world it was.
Then my husband and I moved back to the family farm in Weston, Vermont, and took over a construction company. Our move came at a time when I was beginning to feel a lack of growth in my work. I'd done illustrations for all kinds of science texts and was uncertain what to do next. So I was enthusiastic about our move and our new business. I did some office work and architectural design work and drafting, and we raised two children.
However, as time went on, I needed new challenges. Somehow I was off the track. When my second child entered first grade, the time had come to quit my job and return to school. At first I thought I would become an architect. I was good at architectural design and as an architect I could continue to contribute to our business.
I looked around, found the Boston Architectural Center and went down for an interview. While I was visiting a class on that first evening, I realized very suddenly (it was like being hit by lightning) that it was not architecture that I wanted to study, it was illustration. So my search continued, but now I was looking at art schools.
I enrolled in two schools, the New England School of Art and Design and the Art Institute. By taking classes at both, I was able to organize three days of classes each week.
After I began my studies my focus shifted. I no longer wanted to draw things just as they were, I wanted to look at them in new ways: to abstract them. Bill Oakes, one of my teachers, gave me lots of encouragement in this new direction. He wanted his students to question and get away from thinking in preconceived ways. As I studied with him my work began to change.
I also enrolled in Marion Parry's class in children's book writing and illustration at Radcliffe. It was in that seminar that I really became involved in children's books and decided that was where I wanted to concentrate my energies.
After I completed my studies in Boston, I took my portfolio with a variety of picture and story ideas to New York for appointments with editors and art directors at publishing houses. I had a total of forty-seven interviews over a three year period. I kept offering different ideas and suggestions for books. None was taken. But the situation changed with Alphabatics.
I showed the illustrations for just three letters, A, B, and E, to Bradbury Press, a Macmillan imprint. The idea was accepted, and my career as a children's book illustrator began.
Alphabatics is an idea that came to me while taking topography in art school. In the course, I worked exclusively with letter forms, shrinking and expanding them and manipulating their shapes in various ways. I was intrigued by the process and felt there were possibilities for a book. However, it was several years before I worked out the idea.
Publishing Alphabatics, my first, was very exciting. The book was well received and won two prestigious awards: a Caldecott Honor presented by the American Library Association and The Golden Kite Award presented by the Society of Children's Book Writers.
Since Alphabatics I have written and illustrated many books for children, including, most recently, Fish Swish, Spalsh Dash!, a counting book; Shape by Shape and Alphabet Animals for Simon and Schuster's Little Simon imprint. Alphabet Animals won the NAPPA gold medal in 2008, and received first prize in the novelty division at the 2009 New York Book Show.
A great pleasure for me is encouraging readers to go beyond their usual stopping points and make their own artistic discoveries. "Children are inventors, They thrive on situations that bring out that quality of inventiveness." In books like Alphabet Animals, I create opportunities for imagination and originality.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful introduction to Maasai and Plains of Kenya,
By A Customer
This review is from: Nanta's Lion: A Search-And-Find Adventure (Hardcover)
A wonderful book that use page shapes to help define the environment. My two year old son loves to look at all the differnet animals, big and small, and follow Nanta's adventure. I first bought this book in Kenya and am happy to know that it is available to others through Amazon.com
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