Hiawatha - Hardcover

Grade 5 Up Six excerpts from Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha are illustrated with double-page pop-up illustrations. The pale watercolors do little more than create a static three-dimensional scene, pleasant enough but offering little additional illumination to the text. The pallid illustrations do not reflect the mood of the texta misty birch forest and a blue heron, for example, accompany ``Dark behind it rose the forest/ Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees.'' Longfellow's epic deserves more serious attention than this toy book. Kathleen Whalin, Public Library of Columbus and Franklin County, Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The creator of this pop-up version of the classic epic poem should be commended for a well-intentioned effort, but the result is only somewhat palatableneither the paper engineering nor the realistic watercolor pictures can stand up to Longfellow's shimmering language. While a picture book version could have made the poem more accessible, this has only six spreads because of the production limitations. The pop-ups do not illuminate the poem for young readers, and older children may shy away from the format. All ages.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.