About the Author:
Jacqueline Briggs Martin is the author of Snowflake Bentley, winner of the 1999 Caldecott Medal, and The Lamp, the Ice, and the Boat Called Fish, an ALA Notable Book, a Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, Riverbank Review Finalist, Notable Social Studies Trade book and winner of The Golden Kite Award for Illustration. She grew up on a farm in Maine much like the one in this story. She lives in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.
From School Library Journal:
Grade 2-4-Grandfather left the sea when he married, but even now he's a water man at heart. His shy granddaughter, Isabel, loves his tales. She loves fishing with him and going dowsing, too, to find underground water. But most of all, she loves the Pig of the Pig, the last pig of the last litter of the pig that sailed with Grandfather around Cape Horn. When he becomes discouraged after several unsuccessful attempts at finding water and the Pig disappears, the child discovers within herself a courage and a gift she never knew she had. The lengthy story is wonderfully paced and offers some delightful moments, as when the young narrator uses a rock as a pretend ship and sails out to sea, heedless of the "wind that cuts like scissors and saw blades," or when she tells readers about a grouchy neighbor, who, Grandfather says, "-wouldn't give away the good smell from a piece of warm toast." The large acrylic paintings, some of which are spreads, are framed in white, and Wingerter's brush strokes achieve a texture that is perfectly suited to rendering wind and sea and tall farm grasses. The artist's depiction of the grandmother, granddaughter, and the Pig, all sitting before the stove listening to Grandfather's yarns, speaks to the warmth and contentment they share. A fine addition to any collection.
Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CT
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