CM Magazine: Gifts.

________________ CM . . . . Volume III Number 7 . . . . November 29, 1996

cover Gifts.
Jo Ellen Bogart. Illustrated by Barbara Reid.
Richmond Hill: Scholastic, 1996. (Originally published in hardcover in 1994.) 32 pp., paper $5.99.
ISBN 0-590-24935-5.

Subject Headings:
Grandmothers-Juvenile fiction.
Gifts-Juvenile fiction.
Travel-Juvenile fiction.

Preschool - grade 2 / Ages 3 - 7.
Review by Wendy Zwaal.
**** /4

excerpt:

My grandma went a-travelling,
She said: "What would you have me bring?"
"Not much," said I,
"Just a piece of the sky,
and a hundred songs I can sing."

Gifts is the story of an adventurous grandmother who asks her granddaughter what she would like from her travels. The granddaughter does not request the usual souvenirs, but asks for such things as a mountain, a rainbow, a sunrise, a roar, an iceberg and a memory. The grandmother complies and through the gifts, the granddaughter shares in the grandmother's experiences. In the course of the grandmother's travels, both the child and the grandmother grow older and by the end of the story the child has grown up to be a mother who promises to share her grandmother's gifts with her own child.

Gifts demonstrates a positive relationship between grandmother and grandchild - one that is full of love and sharing, where the true gifts that the grandmother gives are not material. Gifts also portrays a positive image of aging; the grandmother, although grey-haired, is full of life and vigour. Even as she ages and is in a wheelchair, she retains her energy and zest for life.

Gifts is an outstanding picture book. In 1995, it won the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Medal for best illustrated Canadian children's picture book. Illustrator Barbara Reid, whose previous works include the award-winning Two by Two, Have you seen birds? and the Zoe board book series, continues her wonderful work here. The illustrations are detailed, colourful and magical. The grandmother appears vigourous and energetic; the child is joyful and adoring. Action and emotion are both wonderfully portrayed.

Author Jo Ellen Bogart has written several other children's books including Sarah saw a Blue Macaw, Daniel's Dog, and Two Too Many. In Gifts she employs rhyme effectively to create a special relationship.

Gifts is a delightful book that children will enjoy.

Highly recommended.

Wendy Zwaal is the Children's Librarian at the Newmarket Public Library.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

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