Vessel of Promises
A Bookish Fable
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
*"Conveying communal wisdom and collective hope, this volume honors reading and knowledge as staples for a proverbial lifeboat." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
From Caldecott Medalist Ed Young comes a charming, accordion-style picture book about the life of a library.
Rendered in gorgeous mixed-media collage, and in a striking, accordion-style format, Caldecott Medalist Ed Young's Vessel of Promises outlines the life of a library and the impact that books and reading can have on people throughout the world. Sure to appeal to kids and adults alike!
Praise for Ed Young's The Weather's Bet:
*"Awe-inspiring artwork as powerful as any force of nature."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Lyrical and profound." --School Library Journal
"A good classroom readaloud."--Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cowan reimagines the story of Noah's Ark, replacing the character of Noah with an old woman who foresees a flood. She brings into her house "all the promises/ that she could think to find./ She gathered them in pairs/ so none were left behind." Young's (The Weather's Bet) dark, abstract spreads, superimposed on striations of boldly textured color, hint at hollow-eyed, beaked birds; winged insects; and other creatures. During the flood, the woman appears as a shadowy silhouette, and the animal forms are picked out in brightly lit lines amid layered backgrounds. When the rain ends and dry land appears, Cowan asks, "Can you guess what promises the old woman had protected?" Despite earlier cues, they're not creatures they're books, and she builds a library to hold them: "if you look in your town,/ the vessel's waiting there for you." Though the leap from timeless fable to real-world library feels sudden, readers will grasp the idea that books contain promises of enlightenment and knowledge that must be preserved. Ages 4 8.
