Gathering: A Northwoods Counting Book - Softcover

Bowen, Betsy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0395981344 ISBN 13: 9780395981344

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers, 1999

Synopsis

In the northwoods, most of the year is spent preparing for the longest and most demanding season: winter. Families of people and animals alike begin their gathering for the cold months as early as the start of spring. Much needs to be done - planting and gardening, fishing and berry picking, chopping and piling wood, harvesting wild rice, and searching for warm boots and socks. Like the firewood and jarred rhubarb, summer memories are stored so that stargazing and fireflies are remembered on the coldest of winter days. In this companion to her memorable debut, Antler, Bear, Canoe: A Northwoods Alphabet Year, Betsy Bowen delights readers with a warm regard for the woods and its inhabitants. Gathering, illustrated anew in vibrantly colored woodcuts, is a celebration of the changing seasons laced with a special reverence for the magic and mystery of winter and the first big snow of the year.

About this title

Review:

From May through December, a northwoods family prepares for the long, cold winter that lies ahead by gathering supplies (and memories) that will tide them through the longest season--winter. In May, they begin thinking of all the preparations that will keep them busy throughout the next seven months. They plant "one" seed at a time, bake "two" rhubarb pies, collect "three" warm summer memories, and so on until they get to "ten" skis, "eleven" friends celebrating the end of the season of chores, and "twelve" inches of snow, which launch the beginning of skiing, skating, and snowman-building fun.

Although the premise of Gathering is a counting book, it's really more a celebration of a unique lifestyle that few of us know as intimately as author Betsy Bowen, who's spent more than 25 years on the north shore of Lake Superior with her family. The joy of this experience shines through in this charming book, illustrated with beautiful, bright, and rather intricate woodcuts. "All day long we ski on the fresh snow; we find our familiar trails and discover some new ones, too. Tonight we'll gather around the fire to thaw our feet and drink hot cider. We're settled in for winter now. Before long we'll count the days until spring."

About the Author:

Betsy Bowen is the author-illustrator of several books for children. Reviewers have described her distinctive woodcuts as bold, rich and handsome. The mother of three sons, she has lived with her family on the rugged north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota for more than thirty years.

About this edition

• Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0395981344
• ISBN 13: 9780395981344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32