Silver at Night - Hardcover

Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517594277 ISBN 13: 9780517594278

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1994

Synopsis

In a story set in turn-of-the-century America, Massimino leaves his Italian village to seek a new life for himself in the New World, working hard and saving money to buy a farm despite his homesickness for his friends, family, and beloved Perina.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-3-Sharing the immigrant experience with young readers is a worthy goal. However, in this brief tale in which a young man from Italy finds work in America's coal mines, the poetic imagery of the prose style overwhelms the story line. It is difficult to relate to Massimino's ocean journey, struggles, and long years of work, because the dreamlike quality of the text belies the hard facts of the obstacles he must overcome. One cannot help but compare the lyricism and understated truths so evident in Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey (Houghton, 1993) with this account. The somewhat odd perspective of Ray's full-color illustrations are consistent with the story's mood, but the personalities of Massimino and his true love, Perina, who joins him at the end, are not individualized enough in this rather primitive artistic style. In fact, the hugeness of some images, such as trains, tunnels, and animals, tends to dwarf the main characters, much as the excessive verbiage obscures the point. The transitions from the harsh reality in the coal mines, to Massimino's fantasy of owning a small farm, and his memories of the "old country" are also difficult to follow. The story of immigrants' struggles and achievements has been told often and well in a variety of picture books for this age group; only libraries with a large demand for the subject should consider this purchase.
Martha Rosen, Edgewood School, Scarsdale, NY
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Massimino, toiling in the old country, marvels at the landlord's hilltop mansion, "perched like a proud, fat cat guarding all that it had caught." Even the sun and moon seem to belong to the landlord. Yearning for property of his own, Massimino leaves his village and his one love, Perina, who predicts that he will someday be a rich man, with "gold in the morning and silver at night." He sails across the ocean to "a new country," then boards a train for "a village nestled in the arms of a great mountain." There he mines coal by day and counts his silver coins by night-and misses Perina. First-time author Bartoletti throngs the simple story in an avalanche of fulsome imagery. Ray's (Greyling) illustrations combine a comforting palette and soft, draping forms with tilted perspectives-evoking the mixed moods of alienation and home, dazzling prospects and back-breaking work. His images of the moon and sun and other sources of light soften the text, preparing the reader for Massimino's realization that, reunited with Perina, he is "rich indeed." Ages 5-9.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0517594277
• ISBN 13: 9780517594278
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1
• Illustrator: David Ray