Review by Booklist Review
Ages 5-9. This unusual picture book briefly describes the life of Columbus and illuminates it with stunning artwork. Reminiscent of Renaissance paintings, engravings, and (especially) maps, the illustrations combine the naive and the surreal in a very individual, sometimes haunting, way. The medium is "oil, ink and watercolor, and gouache . . . following a technique similar to fresco painting." Though misleading readers somewhat by implying that only Columbus believed the Indies could be reached by sailing west, Sis gives a fair summary of Columbus' life. The story begins with his childhood dreams of adventure and ends with his landing in what he believed to be the Orient. The book's abrupt ending sentence, "Columbus, however, never really knew that he had reached `America,'" raises more questions than it answers. Still, this is a good book to share on Columbus Day, primarily for the beauty and originality of Sis' artwork. ~--Carolyn Phelan
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Portraying Columbus from his boyhood to his first landing in the Americas, Sis's ( Waving ; Alphabet Soup ) account is straightforward but somewhat flat. Though his minimal text often reads like a rushed summary, his artwork is extraordinary. With their rich, earthy hues, fine cross-hatching and, in many instances, the semblance of parchment or aged oils, these illustrations recall the maps, charts and paintings of Columbus's own era. Sis is especially adept at evoking the life of the mind and suggesting bridges between reality and imagination. In one particularly striking scene, the child Columbus, charged with weaving a bolt of cloth, imagines a world where the loom is his ship and the star-studded cloth his sail; in another, the monsters of the deep are depicted as they might be envisioned by the fearful men sailing west for the first time. Ages 5-10. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4--A fascinating artistic represen tation of the discovery of the New World. In a preface, Sis makes refer ence to Columbus escaping the walls of fear and ignorance that encompassed 15th-century Europe and uses that mo tif freely throughout--as a curtain framing a view of Genoa, a background for pictures of Columbus's early life, and in an endpaper map of Europe sur rounded by a wall. The illustrations, ex ecuted in a variety of media--oil, ink, watercolor, and gouache--show scenes from the explorer's life as well as some of the many imaginary creatures that populated the Europeans' picture of the outside world at that time. Sis uses col ors ranging from drab browns and grays, to a rose-colored sky that is a background for the king and queen of Spain, and deep blues and greens for the ocean. A double-page medieval- style map is bordered with important dates and small pictures representing those dates, while another double page shows many postage-stamp-size repre sentations of the sea as described in Co lumbus's log. The many details on each page invite individual readers to pay close attention, but the brief, clear text and framed illustrations lend them selves equally well to group sharing. Make room on your crowded Colum bus shelf for this one.--Jean H. Zim merman, Willett School, South River, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
The text of this brief examination of the life of Christopher Columbus is smoothly written and informative, but it is Sis's illustrations that make the book so distinctive. His pictures extend the narrative, vividly rendering on oversize, intricate pages Columbus's vision of a new world. This volume will be welcomed for its simplicity, energy, and idealism. From HORN BOOK 1991, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A brief, straightforward, uncontroversial summary of the events leading up to Columbus's first voyage and of the outward voyage itself--a book that serves to caption a series of dreamlike, highly imaginative illustrations blending the visual inspiration of 15th-century maps with this gifted Czech artist's perception of his own emigration as an escape from Europe's encircling walls. Stone walls are a unifying theme here, appearing as curtains around the first scene, as background in an album-like book displaying scenes from Columbus's childhood, as the surface over which the boy imagines sailing as he dreams of Marco Polo, or as the border of a glowing map of the known world, its only aperture opening off the page's edge to the west. Meanwhile, Sis makes fine decorative use of other motifs: sea monsters, starry skies and distant vistas, nautical instruments and ships. Contrasting meticulous detail with generously open space--delicately textured or luminous with color--is characteristic of Sis's work; here, style and theme are integrated in the splendid art. An unusually creative addition to the rapidly growing stack of books on Columbus. (Biography/Picture book. 4+)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
