The Promise Basket

by Bill Richardson, Slavka Kolesar (Illustrator)

Overview

From award winning author Bill Richardson and highly acclaimed illustrator Slavka Kolesar comes a beautiful story about the love between a mother and daughter where a promise makes the perfect gift.

A stone when it’s thrown can damage, can break,
but nothing can shatter the promise I make.

So begins the poem a mother writes on a scrap of paper. She wraps the paper around a stone and places it in a basket to give to her daughter on her first birthday. They are poor, but the mother is determined that gifts will be given when gifts need giving. She keeps her promise, and the Promise Basket, too.

Every time there is a need for gifts, the mother finds a pretty stone to tie up with paper and ribbon, and gives it to her daughter in the basket. She continues the tradition over the years until her daughter has a baby of her own…

The love between a mother and her daughter is celebrated in this lyrical story from Bill Richardson, featuring colorful illustrations by Slavka Kolesar.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773060897
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	08/01/2019
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	670L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

BILL RICHARDSON, winner of Canada’s Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, and former radio host, has written several highly acclaimed books for children. They include The Aunts Come Marching, illustrated by Cynthia Nugent, winner of the Time to Read Award; After Hamelin, winner of the Ontario Library Association’s Silver Birch Award; and The Alphabet Thief, illustrated by Roxanna Bikadoroff, named among New York Library's Best Books for Kids. Bill lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

SLAVKA KOLESAR has a BFA in visual studies and art history from the University of Toronto and training as an early childhood educator. She has illustrated Ulysse by Suzanne de Serres, Le Nom de l’arbre by Stéphanie Bénéteau and La Légende de Carcajou by Renée Robitaille, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. She was the 2017 TD Summer Reading Club illustrator. Slavka lives in Fernie, BC.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for Bill Richardson, Slavka Kolesar and The Promise Basket:

Manitoba Book Award — McNally Robinson Book for Young People: Younger Category, 2020

“[W]ith rhythm and repetition, the narrative mixes messages of unending maternal devotion with subtle allusions to life’s challenges. . . . Whether brought to a baby shower or given to a graduate, this story of steadfast parent-child bonds may become a perennial gift favorite.” — Publishers Weekly

Praise for Bill Richardson, Roxanna Bikadoroff and The Alphabet Thief:

New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids
NCTE Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts

“A smart pick for language lovers of any age.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review

“A fun romp that lends itself to both quietly amused solo reading and boisterous read-aloud sessions.” — Quill & Quire, starred review

“Sure to delight wordsmiths of all ages. A fun read-aloud that lends itself to curricular application.” — School Library Journal

“A small and hilarious picture book … Pictures and verses seem to tumble over one another …” — Wall Street Journal

Praise for Bill Richardson, Roxanna Bikadoroff and The Bunny Band:

“[A] rhyming story of theft, mercy and enchantment illustrated with quirky good humor by Roxanna Bikadoroff.” — Wall Street Journal

“This fun rhyming text is a great, read-aloud choice …” — School Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

08/01/2019

K-Gr 3—Parental love is a precious gift, especially when life becomes challenging. A mother and her baby daughter live in a very small room that they share with a very small mouse. As the little girl's first birthday approaches, her mother is determined to give her a special gift despite their poverty. She discovers a beautiful stone on the beach, a basket that has been discarded, paper, and ribbon, and constructs a gift for her baby that includes a poetic promise. On every gifting occasion after that, the little girl finds a beautiful stone and another poem until she herself continues the tradition with her own daughter. A story about the resilience that a single mother can have, this book encapsulates what is truly important in a human life: love. Stylized illustrations created with watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, and gouache showcase the emotions felt by each character in a manner reminiscent of Picasso. The mother repeats a four line poem in each gift she gives her daughter, changing the final two lines while keeping the first two lines the same. Though a medium length story, the repetition and intermittent poetry paired with illustrations that dominate the page make this book accessible to a wide range of ages. VERDICT A lovely message of ongoing love even and especially in the face of difficult experiences.—Mary Lanni, formerly of Denver Public Library

School Library Journal

2019-04-28
A Canadian broadcaster and author of humorous books for adults and children, Richardson takes a departure here to offer an ode to maternal love.

The story about a white, rosy-cheeked mother and daughter who live by the sea is written primarily in the third person. They are poor, but the woman "was determined that gifts would be given when gifts needed giving." So on each special occasion, starting on the baby's first birthday, she finds a stone and writes an accompanying poem to place in a basket she's rescued from someone's trash. The poem becomes a rhyming refrain for each situation, the first couplet unchanging and the second varying according to the situation. "A stone when it's thrown can damage, can break, / but nothing can shatter the promise I make. / This stone and this promise are all I can give: / I'll love you each day for as long as I live." Kolesar's compositions, rendered in watercolor, gouache, graphite, and colored pencil, have a primitive, folk-art quality. A stylized tree figures prominently; at one point its roots form the capillaries of the mother's heart. The illustrations offer decorative rather than deeper narrative support. Ultimately, the basket is passed along for the grandchild. In the tradition of Robert Munsch's Love You Forever (1995), the perspective and sentiments are wrapped in adult nostalgia but without drama or humor to maintain a child's interest.

Grandmothers are the target audience; skip for children. (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews