This Quiet Lady

by Charlotte Zolotow, Anita Lobel (Illustrator)

Overview

What was your mother like as a little girl? How did she look in school? What did she do before you were born? Follow along as one girl joyously searches through old pictures to find out. Generations will be inspired to share family history as they treasure this book together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780688175276
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/05/2000
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 12.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Lexile:	AD430L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Charlotte Zolotow—author, editor, publisher, and educator—has one of the most distinguished reputations in the field of children's literature. She has written more than seventy books, many of which are picture-book classics, such as Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present and William's Doll. She lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Anita Lobel's name is synonymous with the best in children's literature. She is the creator of such classics as Alison's Zinnia and Away from Home, and she received a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in On Market Street. She is the creator of two books about her cat, Nini, One Lighthouse, One Moon (a New York Times Best Illustrated Book), and Nini Here and There. Her childhood memoir, No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Anita Lobel lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

One of the most amazing discoveries a child makes is learning that their parents led a completely different life before their offspring came along. In this sensitive picture book, a girl winds her way through the house pointing out photographs of her mother at the various stages in her life: ``This young lady laughing with those boys is my mother,'' or ``This bride like a white flower is my mother.'' Zolotow's deceptively plain text manages to speak volumes when paired with Lobel's tender watercolor and gouache paintings. Much like a family album, the story spans one generation and flows smoothly into the next when the girl says proudly, ``And here is where I begin.'' Each spread features a small, dark-toned painting that shows the young narrator while the facing page offers a richly colored painting of her smiling, dark-haired mother, sporting the appropriate period dress and hairstyle. An excellent choice for quiet mother-child sharing, this book speaks beyond its seeming slightness--and is sure to invite geneaology lessons filled with fond memories. Ages 3-up. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 2-- Hats and flowers on the cover and lemon yellow endpapers introduce a simple, cheerful mother-daughter concept book with little plot. A small girl shows her doll pictures of her mother as a baby, a child holding her own doll, a schoolgirl, an adolescent, a graduate, and a wife and mother. The book ends with a new ``beginning,'' the birth and baby picture of the narrator. Lobel's soft-toned, watercolor and gouache full-page renditions of the ages and stages that chronicle a woman's life are pleasantly posed and show her smiling sweetly. The central theme, that females are bonded in the shared destiny of motherhood and the continuity of life, is one that will appeal to many. This is a celebration of traditional values and social roles, and for just that reason, may not be everyone's cup of tea. Zolotow's gentle text is direct, repetitive, and polished--ideal for reading aloud. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ

School Library Journal