On a silver morning thick with fog, a mother and child hike into the woods, hoping to glimpse the deer they love so much. They climb up hills and over fallen limbs, and they work their way along twisty paths, searching. Then they sit still, watching and waiting. But the deer are shy-the hikers will have to see them another day. Careful readers may be more fortunate, however, if they look closely enough at David Christiana’s ethereal illustrations.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3?Early on a foggy morning, two siblings creep into the fields and woods surrounding their house. Besides noticing all of the changes that fog creates in their visual landscape, the children seem to have ventured forth with a purpose: to spot a deer. This is not made clear until part way through the text, thus diminishing readers' role as coconspirators. When the final metaphor is established, that the deer and fog are alike, both quiet and shy, readers are left awkwardly pondering this idea along with the other rhetorical questions posed throughout the text. This distance, created by the story, is augmented by the illustrations. Although evocative and artistic in their own right, they don't support or clarify the text. While readers may try to discover the animals and curiosities suggested by the text, the illustrations literally keep them in a fog, vainly searching the page for evidence of the hidden activities. Pictures that were thus presumably meant to bask children in luminescent silver are instead opaque and monotonous. Even as the fog is lifted, the pictures still provide a stark and sketchy environment rendered now in rust rather than silver. While the language is literary and smooth with a poetic cadence much like that of Jane Yolen's Owl Moon (Philomel, 1987), the story of another clandestine journey, this book ultimately fails by remaining too inaccessible for its primary audience.?Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 4^-7. The magic of a foggy morning is beautifully captured in Pearson's words and Christiana's impressionistic paintings. "While we slept . . . the fog crept in." So begins an adventure for a young boy, who cannot see the road or the mailbox or the woodpile when he awakes. Only bare branches and a shadow of distant trees are visible: "Everything else is silver." The boy and his mother take a walk through the foggy woods, and though the mist shrouds everything, the forest is alive with sounds and smells and the presence of creatures, from chipmunks to deer. By the time the pair arrive home, the fog has lifted. When did it disappear? Mother and son wonder. "The fog is even shier than the deer. It crept away so softly we never saw its white tail flash good-by." Children will be caught by Pearson's evocative text and will delight in getting lost in the misty watercolor artwork, where one must look closely to make out shapes and objects. Only the brightly colored birds that dot the silvery landscape make their presence clearly known. Ilene Cooper
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
enchanting illustrations and a gentle tale,
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This review is from: Silver Morning (Hardcover)
Mother, son, and pet dog awake one February morning to find their house, yard, and the surrounding woods draped with thick fog. They decide to take an early morning walk in the woods, hoping to spy deer. Everything is covered in dew and is mystical looking. The watercolor illustrations are wonderful and unique. Along the way, they see many kinds of wildlife, but no deer. They are having fun despite not actually seeing any deer. After returning home for breakfast, two deer are seen peering into their house watching them! The tone of the book is relaxing and calm. It is clear the mother and son love spending time together. Nature is seen as beautiful and to be respected. It is hard to describe, but this book is just different than any I have ever read. Something else I like about this book is that it celebrates the simple things in life; showing that a simple walk through the woods can be a fun adventure for mother and son to do together. Anyone who respects nature or appreciates the simple pleasures in life will love reading this book to their child.
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