Sunday, February 5, 2017

[BOOK REVIEW] Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey



Title: Time of Wonder

Author:  Robert McCloskey


Genre:  Family / Nature / Weather / Poetry / Exploration

Year Published: 1957

Year Read:  2010

Publisher:
The Viking Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (One Intense Scene involving a Hurricane)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 



When I first read this book as a child, I did not really care for this book since I thought that this book was too boring to sit through.  However, when I read this book later on as an adult, I realized that this book was a truly moving book.  “Time of Wonder” is a Caldecott Medal award winning book from the great mind of Robert McCloskey and it is about how a family spends their time on the islands enjoying the beauties of the island.  “Time of Wonder” may seem a bit too boring for smaller children, but it is truly one of Robert McCloskey’s most beautiful and moving books ever created!


Robert McCloskey has done a great job at making the story extremely dreamy and beautiful as he describes the girls’ adventures on the island in a dreamy and poetic fashion, giving the story a beautiful feeling, the type of feeling you get when you go to a wonderful place.  Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are much different in this book than in his other books since the images are actually colored instead of the usual black and white images that he usually uses for most of his books.  Robert McCloskey’s illustrations are truly realistic and beautiful as he shows images of the island showing its beauty towards the two girls.  The images that stood out the most in this book are the images of the ferns growing and the images of the hurricane coming towards the island.  The images with the ferns growing shows the ferns uncurling themselves from the ground, which is truly a beautiful sight and the images of the hurricane coming to the island shows the storm making a strong wind that violently blows at the family’s house and you can see the waves being blown so violently and the family being blown by the wind as the father tries desperately to close the door.


Smaller children might be bored with this book since the beginning is a tad bit too slow and the action does not really come around until the scene of the hurricane coming to the island.  Also, the length of this book is much longer than most picture books and many small children might become bored with this book.  Parents might want to read one section of the book for the first day and then read the second section of the book the next day so that way children would not become so easily bored.


“Time of Wonder” is a beautiful and enchanting book about enjoying the true beauty of nature that will have many children respecting nature so much more.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the slow beginning.     

1958 Caldecott Medal




 

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