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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J 155.937 HOLE 2014 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
2018 IBBY Honour List
An imaginative and haunting story about dealing with griefIt is a day when everything aches and nails are raining from the sky. Anna's mother has died. Anna and her father are making their way to the funeral. But along the way they talk -- capturing memories, asking hard questions, picturing what heaven might be like. Anna's imagination leads both of them on a journey that, by the end, might just offer a certain sort of peace.
With captivating artwork and text that is at times whimsical, at times haunting, this profound book will make a perfect companion for readers who are wrestling with their own questions about life's mysteries.
Spirituality & Practice 10 Best Spiritual Children's Books of 2014
Author Notes
Stian Hole is a Norwegian author and illustrator whose Garmann books have garnered considerable acclaim in North America. His Garmann's Summer won a BolognaRagazzi Award, a Batchelder Award Honor, and an Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, and it made the IBBY Honour List for 2010.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-5-Mesmerizing and surreal mixed-media collages draw readers into this intriguing story of the many possibilities Heaven offers. Young Anna's mother has died, and the girl and her father are on their way to the funeral when Anna begins asking her father questions about God and Heaven. Though he is immensely sad and anxious to head toward the church, he slows down, answers his daughter's questions as best he can, and actually smiles as he lets his child ready herself for the sad task ahead. Breathtakingly stunning illustrations take readers on flights of fantasy that can be both beautiful and unsettling. The endpapers at the book's beginning show nails raining down as the pain of loss is relentless. After the father and daughter acknowledge their grief, the final endpapers are optimistically filled with ripe strawberries in place of the painful nails. Beguiling pictures and stirring text may lead to discussions about death and the possibility of an afterlife, helping to ease bereveament.-Maryann H. Owen, Children's Literature Specialist, Mt. Pleasant, WI (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Grief is the unspoken subtext of Hole's (Garmann's Summer) exquisite study of a father and daughter experiencing loss. Anna's father is waiting impatiently for her as she swings in her backyard. As church bells chime in the background, Anna's father is seen holding a bouquet, looking dejected. He tells Anna, "There's someone in the sky sending down nails." As father and daughter begin to talk about God, heaven, and Anna's absent mother, the reason for her absence is implied but never stated: Anna suggests her mother may be weeding the garden in Paradise, since God is so busy. Or, Anna adds, she may have gone to the library. Hole's mixed-media collages perfectly convey the wild, almost hallucinatory flights of Anna's imagination, with images of flying fish, airborne jellyfish, and a giraffe and Elvis Presley half-submerged in water, amid other figures and objects. Even the front and back endpapers become part of the story. The front depicts a rain of nails, the back a rain of strawberries, as Anna had imagined. A gorgeous, poignant book. Ages 6-10. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Anna's mother has died, so the child helps her father imagine heaven as a place with flying fish and where "you can take your socks off whenever you please." Both text (translated from Norwegian) and the surrealist art leave much unexplained. What happened to Anna's mother? Are they heading to her funeral? Why all the fish? Intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying. (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Hole once again tackles the hard issues in childrens literature, this time grief, with his now-signature blend of beautiful, thoughtful and quirky images (Garmanns Secret, 2012, etc.).Opening endpapers pay tribute to artist Magritte and begin a series of symbolic patterns with nails falling from a blue sky with puffy clouds. The quiet story starts as Anna, a girl with bold red hair, and her restless father prepare to do something difficult. Numerous clues, including a cloudlike womans face looking down from the sky, tell readers that the young girls mother has died before Anna acknowledges it. As Anna begins to ask such difficult questions as How can God keep his eye on everyone? her world turns dreamlike with Italianate designs and surreal imagery. Soon Anna and her father fly through a hole in the skywhich appears airy on some pages, as an underwater world on others and even a mix with butterflies and jellyfish floating togetheras they make their way to heaven. They take turns questioning and offering possibilities (Perhaps shes in Paradise, doing some weeding), finding comfort in their personal reflections, even if they dont have all the answers. A hopeful ending offers a fitting closure to this intelligent picture book that will resonate with grieving children and adults alike. Readers of Holes previous books will also find subtle humor in repeat characters.Deeply affecting. (Picture book. 8-11, adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Dad is restless. Hurry up now or we'll be late, he tells Anna. But his daughter has all the time in the world. Time to do marvelous things. Time to swim in the Mariana Trench and fly through the Crab Nebula to a place where the sky is underwater. So, together, off they go to see wonders everywhere, but they can't see Mom. Where could she be? Perhaps she is in paradise doing some weeding. After all, God would be pleased to have a gardener. Or perhaps she is visiting someone she hasn't seen for a while. Mother's absence invites Anna and her father to meditate on the nature of God. Was he better in the old days? Anna asks. Perhaps God's getting forgetful like Grandma. And why, readers may wonder, can't he bring Mom back? This gentle meditation on life and death from the award-winning Norwegian author and artist is graced by beautifully executed, slightly surreal illustrations. Filled with flowers and flight, they tease readers' imaginations and invite them to wonder.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2014 Booklist