Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-Comin'! [Hardcover]

Jill Esbaum (Author), Adam Rex (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Go back in time to a sleepy Mississippi River town

The townfolk of a small village on the banks of the upper Mississippi come vividly alive at the sound of a whistle and the holler of "Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-comin'!" The incoming vessel is filled with passengers and cargo, and at a rapid speed, things are unloaded and loaded - but before you know it, the village is once again at its previous sleepy pace.

Inspired by Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, Jill Esbaum has crafted a skillful, spare poem, and Adam Rex has created gorgeous paintings that do homage to Norman Rockwell.

 

Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-Comin'! is a 2006 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 5–Set in 1867, this story of the fictional S.L. Clemens uses verse to describe the excitement that the brief docking of the packet brought to otherwise tranquil towns along the mighty Mississippi. The terse, highly descriptive text features an ABB rhyme scheme with a catchy rhythm and introduces readers to interesting vocabulary. Colorful words such as "galoots" and "roustabouts" are not defined in the verses, but the accompanying illustrations make grasping the overall context easy. Rex's realistic paintings begin and end as quarter-page snapshots done largely in sepia tones and underscored by a triplet of verse with extensive surrounding white space. This layout clearly shows the calm before the boat's arrival and after its departure. The pictures grow larger as the boat reaches shore and become full-page color spreads with verses superimposed on the images when the Clemens is in port–emphasizing both its impact on the town and the hustle-and-bustle pace of laborers and travelers. As the steamboat pulls away, the illustrations begin to shrink. Well-drawn details abound, making this an excellent resource for historical study. Whether as an introduction to the history of river travel or as background for a Twain classic, this salute to a bygone transportation era is sure to engage children as they, too, thrill to the sound of that once-familiar call, "Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-comin'!"–Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI

Review

"Well-drawn details abound, making this an excellent resource for historical study. Whether as an introduction to the history of river travel or as background for a Twain classic, this salute to a bygone transportation era is sure to engage children as they, too, thrill to the sound of that once-familiar call, 'Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-comin'!'" -- Starred, School Library Journal

"Esbaum captures the bustle and commotion attending a steam packet's arrival in a small river town. Rex depicts the hubbub with Norman Rockwell-esque realism. This makes a rhythmic, emphatic evocation of a scene from days gone by." -- Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (March 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374372365
• ISBN-13: 978-0374372361
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,565,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb Verse Narrative; Authentic Illustrations, December 16, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-Comin'! (Hardcover)

`STE-E-E-E-EAMBOAT' boasts an intelligent rhyming narrative, and nostalgic, colorful pictures. The verse, by Jill Esbaum, is unusually good. Here's a description of the steamboat's (circa mid-19th century) arrival:

Fiery furnace,
Gleaming rails,
Paddles churning foamy trails.

The captain (accurately shown NOT steering the boat) stands on the deck:

Rumpled jacket,
Steady hands,
Watchful captain barks commands.

After a few more verses that propel the narrative, the story--like the steamboat--comes to a halt. Six pages describe actions and objects ("pickles," fragile laces," "spectacles," "long johns"): This is nice for reading skills, but it's an unfortunate break in the action. Adam Rex manages to keep it interesting, however, with varied angles, and a montage of a "tangling, toppling, tumbling" dog that safely lands feet first off the short pier. In their strong conclusion, Esbaum and Rex present the departing steamboat with a sense of drama and poignancy. Rex effectively switches from close-ups of a heron and the small muddy dog to an overhead long-shot of the tiny-looking steamboat steaming away on the "mighty, ever-rolling tide."

Parenthetically, there are some illustrations with an uncanny resemblance to the faces, actions, colors, and even interior rooms of the well-known CD-ROM game, "Oregon Trail." Illustrator Adam Rex informed me that this is entirely coincidental (or due perhaps to the paucity of source materials); he has never seen the game. In fact, Rex did extensive research for this book, taking hundreds of photographs related to his illustrations, and even visiting Lancaster County to find period wagons! For those unfamiliar with "Oregon Trail," (or for those who love that look) the sometimes familiar design will not affect their enjoyment of the book. Additionally, the Norman Rockwell influence (apparent in some of the pictures) gives a sense of identity and an emotional resonance with the anonymous passengers and residents of the river town.

I wish the author had written a little more about crew and passenger experiences aboard a chuggling, paddling steamboat. "Steamboat's A Comin'"--true to its title--focuses on the boat's arrival and departure, and the resulting excitement of the townspeople. Still, there's a heartfelt author's note relating some of Esbaum's feelings about living near the Mississippi River. She also quotes Twain's magnificent "Life on the Mississippi," a book I recommend enthusiastically for adults and teens. 'Ste-e-e-e-eamboat' is well-suited for both casual reading and curriculum enhancement, and youngsters with a taste for old-time river travel will probably enjoy it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time travel at its best, April 7, 2005

By 

CindyBB "Cindy" (Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-Comin'! (Hardcover)

Loved the book! The imagery is incredible and the text is captivating. My kids joined in the refrain STE-E-E-E-EAMBOAT A'Comin after its first appearance, and kept repeating it long after we put the book down. They loved the dog, too. My husband, who is not big on picture books, read through it once quickly, then picked it up again after the kids were in bed so he could take his time enjoying it. I believe our deck is destined to become a steamboat this summer.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ste-e-e-e-eamboat A-Comin'!, April 24, 2006

By 

Reader (Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ste-e-e-e-eamboat a-Comin'! (Hardcover)

Ste-e-e-e-eamboat A-Comin'! won the Friends of American Writers Juvenile Literary Award this year, and I'm not surprised. The story is a vibrant poem that evokes the excitement of a riverboat landing in a sleepy Mississippi River town. The details-burly, brawny roustabouts; pickles and brass spittoons; upstate papers bringing news-paint a vivid picture of a small town in the 1800s, and the rhythm of the poem moves perfectly from slow anticipation as the riverboat approaches to the bustle and commotion of passengers and cargo disembarking to quiet settling in again as the riverboat pulls away to continue its journey. The illustrations by Adam Rex echo that rhythm, with pictures becoming larger and more energetic as the riverboat arrives, then smaller and more pastoral as the riverboat fades away.