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Genre/Form: | Picture books for children Fiction Juvenile works Picture books Juvenile fiction Romans, nouvelles, etc. pour la jeunesse |
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Additional Physical Format: | Online version: Hutchins, H.J. (Hazel J.). Mattland. Toronto : Annick Press, ©2008 (OCoLC)776080913 |
Material Type: | Fiction, Juvenile audience |
Document Type: | Book |
All Authors / Contributors: |
H J Hutchins; Dušan Petričić; Gail Herbert |
ISBN: | 9781554511211 1554511216 9781554511204 1554511208 |
OCLC Number: | 179827825 |
Description: | 30 unnumbered pages : color illustrations ; 23 cm |
Responsibility: | story by Hazel Hutchins and Gail Herbert ; art by Dušan Petričić. |
More information: |
Abstract:
Reviews
Publisher Synopsis
Sparse prose and skillful illustrations that become more colorful... will give young readers a sense of the experience of displacement.--Kay Weisman"Booklist" (01/10/2010) Mattland has much to offer those who find themselves in a new place, and to creative souls needing inspiration.--Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MI"School Library Journal" (06/01/2008) Winner, Marillyn Baillie Picture Book Award Winner, Marillyn Baillie Picture Book Award This beautiful picture book captures a small event in a lonely child's life so exquisitely that it takes your breath away... The plot is simple--Matt has no friends in his new neighbourhood, so he begins to draw in the mud outside his home in what looks to be a new subdivision under construction. Soon he has drawn Snake River and Turtle Lake and he creates "Mattland" out of whatever materials come to hand. Without fanfare or comment, another child shows up and hands Matt a popsicle stick. She returns to add more bits and pieces to the landscape, and then when the rains come and threaten to obliterate the increasingly complex Mattland, many hands appear to build dikes and canals to divert the flood. When the sun breaks through, a ring of smiling faces is reflected in Turtle Lake... There's a message here about not needing endless electronic devices in order to have fun, but the ease of connection with other people over a common project is the most valuable lesson illustrated by this story. I love the sparse text and the unique perspective of the images...This is a great book...for talking about feeling...like an outsider. Matt, lonely and disappointed with the gray, soggy landscape that surrounds his most recent abode, picks up a stick and begins to draw in the mud, eventually creating an entire imaginary world that he terms Mattland. Sparse prose and skillful illustrations that become more colorful as Matt's world evolves highlight this Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award winner and will give young readers a sense of the experience of displacement.--Kay Weisman"Booklist" (01/10/2010) [starred review] Eloquent and beautifully illustrated... Petric's understated watercolors are an essential counterpart to Hutchins and Herbert's mature narrative, revealing the promise of new friendships before Matt himself realizes that he is no longer alone. The closing spread of his reflection in "Turtle Lake," surrounded by other children, is a standout.... Mattland has much to offer those who find themselves in a new place, and to creative souls needing inspiration.--Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MI"School Library Journal" (06/01/2008) "Mattland" is successful on all fronts... Described in spare yet evocative prose, Matt's world grows as he finds new things: a piece of tin becomes a barn; fuzzy seeds become sheep... Illustrator Dusan Petricic (who has dedicated the book to "all displaced children") has made each picture only from Matt's point of view; we see only what Matt sees. And by the end of the book, we understand what it means to him to have created "Mattland" -- he's created a home, so he can feel at home.--Barbara Feinberg"The New York Times" (11/09/2008) Read more...
WorldCat User Reviews (1)
A sweet story
What a sweet story! It's the tale of a boy who has just moved to a new neighborhood--one with lots of mud and nowhere to play/nothing to play with. A stick dragged through the mud creates Snake River...connected with a puddle makes Turtle Lake...and soon Mattland is born.
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Read more...
What a sweet story! It's the tale of a boy who has just moved to a new neighborhood--one with lots of mud and nowhere to play/nothing to play with. A stick dragged through the mud creates Snake River...connected with a puddle makes Turtle Lake...and soon Mattland is born.
As the story progresses and the bits of rock and garbage on the lot are transformed into buildings and landmarks, the brown tones of the watercolor illustrations evolve into the colors of an imaginative landscape. Likewise, Matt's solitude flows into friendships as other children sidle closer to see what he's doing and join in the effort to save Mattland when rainwater threatens to wash everything away.
This would be a great book to read to your children. I think it could also work for a storytime for kids circa kindergarten age or preschoolers with longer attention spans. Not TOO many words on the page, but they're not in huge print and don't rhyme. :)
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All user tags (3)
- imagination (by 1 person)
- picture books (by 1 person)
- watercolor illustrations (by 1 person)
- 1 items are tagged withimagination
- 1 items are tagged withpicture books
- 1 items are tagged withwatercolor illustrations
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Related Subjects:(12)
- Cooperation -- Juvenile fiction.
- Communities -- Juvenile fiction.
- Picture books for children.
- Cooperativeness -- Fiction.
- Community. -- Fiction.
- Communities.
- Cooperation.
- Friendship -- Fiction.
- Imagination -- Fiction.
- Coopération -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. pour la jeunesse.
- Communauté -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. pour la jeunesse.
- Livres d'images pour enfants.
User lists with this item (2)
- R. Ross Annet Award for Children's Literature(15 items)
by curriculumbooks updated 2011-08-31
- Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award(39 items)
by curriculumbooks updated 2011-08-31