Block City

by Robert Louis Stevenson, Daniel Kirk (Illustrator)

Overview

What are you able to build with your blocks?
Renowned illustrator Daniel Kirk has joined his "blocks" — in this case, bright colors, bold shapes, and retro style — with Robert Louis Stevenson's classic poem to construct a nostalgic yet exuberant celebration of fun and imagination. It is a joyous look at playtime that will encourage toddlers to build dreams all their own!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780689869648
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	08/01/2005
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	510,360
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) spent his childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland, but traveled widely in the United States and throughout the South Seas. He was author of many novels, including The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,Kidnapped, The Black Arrow, and Treasure Island.

Daniel Kirk has written and illustrated numerous books, including Hush, Little Alien; Bigger; Humpty Dumpty; Jack and Jill; Moondogs; and Snow Family. In addition he has illustrated two poetry collections; Go! and Dogs Rule!; and several titles by other authors, namely Chugga Chugga Choo Choo and My Truck Is Stuck by Kevin Lewis, and Hello, Hello! by Miriam Schlein. Kirk lives in New Jersey with his wife, author-illustrator Julia Gordon, and three teenage children.

Editorial Reviews

Wolff, creator of such visually arresting books as A Year of Beasts, illustrates a favorite poem from A Child's Garden of Verses. In her now familiar combination of strong black, block-printed line juxtaposed with vibrant watercolor, she explores the literal and emotional content of Stevenson's work. The simple jacket of this well-designed volume shows a wagon full of bright blocks, with the softly evoked watercolor outline of the block city in the background. This is closely followed by pictures of other elements named in the poem: an overstuffed sofa becomes mountains, and the carpet becomes the sea. The pages illustrating the boy's imagined city are carefully detailed, incorporating subtle references into the timeless landscapes of each spread. Ages 3-7. (September)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 1-This colorfully illustrated version of Stevenson's poem is as relevant today as when it was written for A Child's Garden of Verses in 1883. On a rainy day, a small boy constructs a city with building blocks. His imagination soars and his creation soon includes a harbor, mill, palace, and kirk (the illustrator helpfully defines the word "kirk" on the verso of the title page). The couch becomes a mountain range and the carpet an ocean, while a collection of toy people populate his vast domain. Done in colored pencils and gouache in rich, deep colors, the large, clear pictures have a retro feel. The boy's real and imagined towns are both blanketed by dark rain clouds that soon give way to sun and bright blue skies. Demolition appears to be as satisfying as the building process for this youngster: "Now I have done with it,/down let it go!/All in a moment/the town is laid low." Having had enough quiet entertainment for one day, he runs out into the sunshine to join friends, but his imaginary world remains clear in his mind. This enduring poem will charm modern children.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Echoing Ashley Wolff's 1988 approach to Stevenson's poetic tribute to the power of imagination, Kirk begins with neatly drawn scenes of a child in a playroom, assembling large wooden blocks into, "A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, / And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride." All of these acquire grand architectural details and toy-like inhabitants as the pages turn, until at last the narrator declares, "Now I have done with it, down let it go!" In a final twist, the young city-builder is shown running outside, into a well-kept residential neighborhood in which all the houses except his have been transformed into piles of blocks. Not much to choose between the two interpretations, but it's a poem that every child should have an opportunity to know. (Picture book/poetry. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews