All in a Day

by Cynthia Rylant, Nikki McClure (Illustrator)

Overview

A New York Times bestseller, the board book All in a Day shows children how to live in each moment that each day brings.

This lovely book illuminates all the possibilities a day offers—the opportunities and chances that won’t ever come again—and also delivers a gentle message of good stewardship of our planet.

Newbery Medal winner Cynthia Rylant’s poetic text, alongside Nikki McClure’s stunning, meticulously crafted cut-paper art, makes this book not only timeless but appealing to all ages, from one to 100.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810983212
Publisher:	Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/01/2009
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	371,217
Product dimensions:	10.50(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Cynthia Rylant is the author of over a hundred books for children. She won the Newbery Medal for Missing May and the Newbery Honor for A Fine White Dust.


Nikki McClure is a self-taught cut-paper artist known for her calendar and gift line. She is the author and illustrator of Mama, Is It Summer Yet?; To Market, To Market; Apple; How to Be a Cat; and the illustrator of All in a Day, written by Cynthia Rylant, and May the Stars Drip Down, written by Jeremy Chatelain. McClure lives in Olympia, Washington.

Editorial Reviews

McClure's (Collect Raindrops ) illustrations draw most of the attention here. Using an X-Acto knife and black paper, McClure suggests textures as varied as pea-plant tendrils, falling rain and the softness of a mother's body. "A day is a perfect piece of time/ to live a life,/ to plant a seed," Newbery Medalist Rylant (When I Was Young in the Mountains ) begins, as a young farm boy ties one shoelace and a hen pecks at the other. In spreads on alternating blue and yellow backgrounds, the boy waters his garden and gathers eggs, but also picnics, naps and, along with his mother and the hen, stretches out on his back to gaze up at the sky. End-on perspective makes their feet, noses and the hen's body the only topographical features protruding from the curve of the horizon. "Underneath that great big sky/ the earth is all a-spin./ This day will soon be over/ and it won't come back again," Rylant writes. While children aren't usually moved by messages about fleeting time-that's a sentiment adults are likelier to have-they'll enjoy Rylant's rhythms and the tenderness of McClure's images. Ages 4-up. (Mar.)

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Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 4

This picture-book poem discusses the many things that can be done in a day: plant a seed, make a wish, live a life. The illustrations were each cut from a single piece of black paper using an X-Acto knife. They incorporate white spaces and play against yellow and blue backgrounds. Astonishingly detailed, the artwork evokes the feel of classic 1940s and '50s picture books. The large spreads show a boy exploring nature on his family's farm, napping in a hammock with his mother, and hiking in the woods with his father. They successfully capture the magical childhood sense that a day can go on forever. There's no denying the simple loveliness of Rylant's text in lines like "The past is sailing off to sea,/the future's fast asleep," but ultimately, the poem's "seize the day" message may be better appreciated by adults than children.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD

School Library Journal

A boy spends a day on his family farm, sharing joys and disappointments with his parents, a friendly chicken and a watchful squirrel. Rylant uses gentle verse to describe the gifts of a new day and consistent rhyme to conjure the reassuring cycles of nature. McClure's bold cut-paper illustrations make such nebulous concepts as hope and renewal accessible to young readers. Her touching black-and-white tableaux, satisfying and solid with thick lines and sharp reliefs, offer simple scenes of rejuvenation: a rain shower, a burgeoning seedling, a chicken's perfect egg. When the egg breaks, leaving the boy heartbroken, even the tiniest child will understand his tearful desire to undo what's been done, to start again. Alternating backdrops of color, finch-yellow and a soft, muted blue, allow for a whole new outlook with every page turn. This uplifting picture book succeeds in introducing children to the perennial promise of tomorrow through lithe language and honed imagery. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews