The Story of Light

From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 4-- In this retelling of a Cherokee myth, the animal people live in darkness, longing for a bit of light from the sun on the other side of the world. First Possum, and then Buzzard go to fetch a piece of the sun, but both are burned. When Spider offers to go, the animals tell her that she is too small, too old, and besides, "You're a woman." But clever Spider fashions a pot of clay, and then succeeds in bringing back light in it. Roth's illustrations are bold black and yellow woodcuts dominated by geometric shapes and crude, almost harried, lines. The book's design is equally bold. After Possum sees the sun for the first time, the next double spread is a solid block of blinding yellow. Harsh angles and the absence of perspective grab at the reader's eye. Yet neither the pictures nor the text succeed in creating an emotional focus to the story. In the end, despite the graphic inventiveness and Spider's triumph, readers will be left asking, "so what?" --Carolyn Polese, Gateway Community School, Arcata, CACopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.