Who Came Down That Road? - Hardcover

Lyon, George Ella

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531059871 ISBN 13: 9780531059876

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1992

Synopsis

Mother and child ponder the past in discussing who might have traveled down an old, old road, looking backwards from pioneer settlers all the way to prehistoric animals

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

The creators of Cecil's Story here offer a lean, lyrical text and shimmering, luminous paintings to produce an extraordinary picture book that both clarifies but doesn't oversimplify the difficult concept of historical time and evolution. A boy and his mother walk down "an old, old, old, old road" leading through the woods. "Who came down that road, Mama?" asks the child, and each turn of the page brings a time further back--the mother's "great-grandma and great-grandpa, / just married and looking to farm, / they came down that road," and before that "soldiers in blue coats," settlers, Native Americans, animals, prehistoric creatures, fish and finally--accompanied by a particularly dramatic painting--"questions crowded like a bed of stars" allude to the mysteries of creation. Each spread complements Lyon's line or two of poetic text with stunning and evocative watercolors that are filled with light and beauty. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A mother and child look at a path near their home, ``Just a trace through the woods'' but one that's long been traveled. Answering the child's questions, the mother tells how her great- grandparents used the road, then moves back to Civil War soldiers, earlier settlers, ``Shawnee and Cherokee,'' buffalo, mammoths, a warm sea, and finally ``Questions! Questions crowded like a bed of stars...the mystery of the making place....'' As he did for Lyon's Cecil's Story (1991), Catalanotto provides cinematic, out-of-focus illustrations, shimmering with light shining through leaves toward the observer, occasionally superimposing images for a dreamlike effect; the film technique extends to placing the title page several spreads into the story, so that the title becomes part of the text. A lovely, beautifully crafted book that makes an unusually effective response to a prototypical question. (Picture book. 4-7) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0531059871
• ISBN 13: 9780531059876
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1
• Illustrator: Catalanotto Peter