The Blue and the Gray - Hardcover

Grade 1-5-The families of two friends, one black and one white, are building new houses on a spot overlooking a field where a Civil War battle took place. The white boy's father describes the battle to the two children, and these imagined scenes are shown, juxtaposed with the everyday calm of the present. Surprised that there is no historical marker, the boys vow that they'll remember, and the father says: "We'll be a monument of sorts...a part of what they fought for long ago." Bunting uses a first-person narrative, writing in verse that is often evocative and lyrical. When the narrator finds an old bullet, he throws it "...high/across the field of bones./How silently it falls/into the tufts of grass/and flowers." The author does not always maintain an authentic child's voice, however. Bittinger's striking oil paintings are technically accomplished and suit the dramatic nature of the text. He's especially good with the contrast between the serene present, with its clear, transparent light, and the dark chaos of the fighting long ago. This well-intentioned story is not quite up to Bunting's best, but there is much potential for classroom use, and the book will make an interesting match with Patricia Polacco's Pink and Say (Philomel, 1994), right down to a painting of black hands and white hands reaching toward one another.
Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Luminous oil paintings carry the day for this thoughtfully conceived but unevenly executed story. Bunting's tale of two realities-houses under construction and the Civil War battlefield on which the new community lies-revolves around two boys, neighbors and friends, one black and one white. The action alternates between the present day and 1862 as one of the boys' fathers describes the long-ago battle, peeling back the layers of time to reveal the history that lies beneath the boys' feet. Bunting's (Smoky Night) verse shows glimmers of the lyricism of which she is capable ("The barrels of their muskets/ hard and black/ gave back/ the dazzle of the sun"), but it is marred by occasionally awkward phrasing ("The little puffs of smoke/ burst like gray dust/ around the barrel of each rifle gun,/ floated behind them as they'd run/ man after man"). The interracial theme seems a bit contrived, at times even self-congratulatory ("We'll be a monument of sorts," the father says, "a part of what they fought for/ long ago"). Meanwhile, Bittinger's (The Matzah That Papa Brought Home) artwork shines, capturing every nuance, whether picturing sweeping scenes of battle or the easy camaraderie between the two young friends. His evocation of the brutality and drama of war is all the more touching, standing out as it does in sharp relief against the sunny, tranquil contemporary scenes. Ages 5-7.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.