Before Morning

by Joyce Sidman, Beth Krommes (Illustrator)

Overview

There are planes to fly and buses to catch, but a child uses the power of words, in the form of an invocation, to persuade fate to bring her family a snow day — a day slow and unhurried enough to spend at home together.

     In a spare text that reads as pure song and illustrations of astonishingly beautiful scratchboard art, Sidman and Krommes remind us that sometimes, if spoken from the heart, wishes really can come true.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547979175
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/04/2016
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	1,008,884
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

The Newbery Honor winner and Sibert Medalist Joyce Sidman is today's foremost nature poet for children.  Accolades for her books include two Caldecott Honors, a Lee Bennet Hopkins Award, winner of the Claudia Lews Award, and many stars and best of lists.  For her award-winning body of work, she won the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota. Visit www.joycesidman.com

 

 

Beth Krommes is the Caldecott Winning illustrator of The House in the Night  and other beautifully illustrated, much-acclaimed picture books like Swirl by Swirl, and  Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. She lives in Peterborough, NH. Visit her online at www.bethkrommes.com.

Editorial Reviews

…Before Morning makes the case that home is the place to be when the temperature plummets…A keenly perceptive poet, Sidman shows that words and snow both have the power to transform our view of things…Krommes is a master of scratchboard art, an exacting line technique that entails cutting into the black over-layer of a prepared surface to the white layer below to create a shimmering black-on-white image to which other colors can then be added.

The New York Times Book Review - Leonard S. Marcus

★ 08/15/2016
In a book-length poem, Newbery Honor recipient Sidman (Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night) expresses a heartfelt wish for a blizzard so big that it brings everything to a halt; Caldecott Medalist Krommes (The House in the Night) imagines a child for whom a snow day matters more than most. The child’s mother is an airline pilot, and the first spreads show the girl and her father preparing to say good-bye to her. In this context, Sidman’s words (“Let the sky fill with flurry and flight”) take on a different meaning; the child clearly hopes that, just this once, her mother might stay. As the snow starts (“Let the air turn to feathers”), the mother sets off for the airport, but when she realizes no flights are leaving (“Let urgent plans founder” accompanies huddling groups of stranded airport travelers), she turns back. Krommes’s sturdy, rounded figures and quiltlike compositions convey the family’s joy as the mother returns. The story’s parallel but separate threads—the innocent images of the poem, the cheery reassurance of the illustrations, and the tension of the family’s wait—give this collaboration significant emotional depth. Ages 4–7. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Amazon Best Children’s Books of the Year Ages 3 to 5 Booklist Editors' Choice 2016 Horn Book Fanfare Kirkus, Best Picture Book Nerdy Book Club Nerdies 2016 Poetry/Novels in Verse New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Publishers Weekly, Picture Book List San Francisco Chronicle Best of 2016 School Library Journal Best of 2016 School Library Journal’s Fuse#8 Best of 2016 "This is a comforting and deeply satisfying book to read with a child and a celebration of a bit of magic that winter can offer: a gift of time." —The Washington Post “A delightful winter read if there ever was one.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune "It’s a sweet, but never saccharine, tale of family—and so cozy in every possible way that readers will want to return to it again and again. Pair it with your best hot cocoa recipe. Read. Repeat." —BookPage * "This simply perfect book is a must-have piece of portable poetry and art for all collections." —School Library Journal, STARRED review * "[Before Morning's] parallel but separate threads—the innocent images of the poem, the cheery reassurance of the illustrations, and the tension of the family’s wait—give this collaboration significant emotional depth." —Publishers Weekly, STARRED review * "It is rare in picture books to find words and art so perfectly matched, though perhaps not surprising given the talents of Newbery Honor–winning Sidman and Caldecott winner Krommes. Each phrase in Sidman’s spare text evokes the heart and the senses while Krommes’ scratchboard art is so intricately rendered, so full of story, that each page could be investigated dozens of times." —Booklist, STARRED review * "Like a snow day, a special treat with broad appeal." —Kirkus, STARRED review * "Throughout, Krommes’s illustrations do the narrative work, and a series of wordless spreads at book’s end provides a sweet balance to the front matter’s opening scenes, slowly easing the reader out of this mesmerizing book." —Horn Book, STARRED review —

From the Publisher

12/01/2016
K-Gr 2—In spreads that begin wordlessly, scratchboard and watercolor images introduce a child as she says good-bye to her mother, an airline pilot. Then snow mounts, rendering travel impossible, and the mother returns home in time for a full day of sledding and indoor coziness. With remarkable artwork and poetry, two multi-award-winning children's book creators elevate a simple family scenario into a profound celebration of love, shared comfort, and the sparkling, transformative beauty of winter.

School Library Journal

★ 2016-07-20
A child yearns for the snow day that will keep her mother, an airplane pilot, home.Krommes' inimitable scratchboard illustrations play with perspective and point of view as they flesh out Sidman’s short poem, written in the form of an invocation. Washed with orange, tan, and icy blue, they open and close with landscapes reminiscent of Virginia Lee Burton’s work. Moving in on the scene, readers see street traffic and park pigeons. Fallen leaves indicate the season. Mother, child, and dog leave the park, passing a bakery. Three wordless spreads set up the story; on the fourth, the poem begins. It’s set with just a few words on the double-page images; some spreads need no words. The pacing is perfect. Careful readers will relish the details and concoct back stories of their own. Overnight, the pilot tiptoes away, just as snowflakes begin to fall. Gradually, park, roads, and cars are covered with snow. Finally she gets to the airport. No planes will fly. Instead, mother returns to a snow-covered world, where all three can breakfast together, toboggan in the park, and celebrate with hot chocolate and cupcakes. A snow day dream! The straight-haired mother and child are nearly genderless, and they are washed with the same peach color as the leaves. On the final endpapers, elaborate blue-tinged crystals float over the quiet snow-covered town. Like a snow day, a special treat with broad appeal. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews