Cherry Pies and Lullabies
Written by: Lynn Reiser
"In a story that celebrates maternal love across the generations, a child reflects on gifts that are given again and again. The narrator relates how her great-grandmother baked a cherry pie for her grandmother, who in turn baked one for her mother, who baked for her. In the end, the little girl pretends to bake a pie for her teddy bear. The pictures, which are simply drawn yet rich in color and detail, reflect the changes that time brings to the baking process. While great-grandmother rolls her own crust and uses fresh fruit, grandmother can call on a frozen crust and canned pie filling. The mother of today, dressed for success, slips a home-style pie into the microwave. "Every time it was the same, but different."
The following "chapters" trace the same women as they weave crowns of flowers (meadow picked, garden grown, and now purchased at the florist) and wrap their daughters in quilts (hand stitched, machine stitched, and then mail ordered). The final chapter maintains the warm feeling as each mother sings her daughter a lullaby. This time, in spite of changing scenery, "Every time it was the same." The words and music (sung to Brahms's "Lullaby") are included. Reiser's Tortillas and Lullabies (Greenwillow, 1998) tells essentially "the same, but different" story, narrated by a little girl in Costa Rica. The warmth and energy of these books make them perfect choices for inter-generational sharing."
School Library Journal Review
No comments:
Post a Comment