From School Library Journal
Grade 2-8-Set in the Sudbury, MA, hostel of the author's "Tales of the Wayside Inn" fame, the poem is told as Longfellow wrote it-as a story being related to a group of 19th-century gentlemen gathered around a parlor fire 100 years after Revere's historic ride. Immediately, of course, the tale goes back in time to show details of the fateful night, and it does so beautifully. Santore's acrylic spreads, done primarily in somber blue, green, and brown tones, suggest the cover of night of the attempted secret attack, as well as the seriousness of the event itself. Each illustration conveys a tremendous sense of forward movement, not only from Revere's horse as he presses ever onward, but also from the body movements of the colonists as they rouse themselves for battle. The final painting showing Revere racing through clouds above a peaceful village with a large clock looming behind him gives the sense that this tale will continue to be told "through all our history, to the last." Less stylized than Jeffrey Thompson's version, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (National Geographic, 2000), and giving a more retrospective feel than that of Christopher Bing's you-are-there approach (Handprint, 2001), this edition should not replace either of those fine works. Rather, it should serve as a point of comparison, as a means of introducing young listeners to the many possibilities an artist faces when interpreting a classic piece of literature.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RICopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reviewed with
Paul Revere's Ride, illustrated by Monica Vachula.
Gr. 2-5. Maybe it's the swelling tide of patriotism or just coincidence, but the spring publishing season has brought two new picture-book editions of Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride." Both are colorful, attractive, and well researched, and either book will make a good companion to Stephen Krensky's historically accurate prose version of the same events, Paul Revere's Midnight Ride (2002). Of the two new books, Vachula's version offers more decorative artwork--bordered paintings that place historical events within the context of a broader setting. The pictures, full-page and smaller on the verso, depict quiet scenes--a cat stalking through a churchyard; a picture of sheep and cattle in the farmyard with the small figure of Paul Revere riding by in the background. Figures in motion seem somehow arrested for a moment in time. In contrast, Santore's more dynamic paintings seem barely contained within the edges of the pages. They thrust the viewer right into the action, with cinematic close-ups of characters as well as broader scenes in which Revere urgently rides to spread the alarm and his countrymen rise up to battle the British. Even a relatively quiet churchyard scene is full of motion, with curving, crisscrossing paths that draw the eye precipitously down to the town and the river below. In the tradition of N. C. Wyeth and Howard Pyle, these dramatic pictures have great appeal. If there's money in the budget and room on the shelf next to the excellent editions of Longfellow's poem illustrated by Christopher Bing (2001) and Ted Rand (1990), consider both books, which provide new, yet traditional, visions of this classic American poem. Carolyn Phelan
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