Hattie and the Wild Waves: A Story from Brooklyn ANNOTATION
A young girl from Brooklyn, New York, enjoys her summer at the beach where she can paint and listen to the wild waves.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
From two-time Caldecott winner Barbara Cooney comes a masterwork of elegance and simplicity. A young girl listens to the waves crashing on the shore to determine her future. Barbara Cooney has illustrated more than 100 books for children, including the award-winning Ox-Cart Man. Full-color throughout.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Readers have come to expect a great deal from this talented Caldecott Medalist ( Ox-Cart Man ; Miss Rumphius ). Even her most demanding fans will be captivated by the richly detailed paintings that illustrate this heartwarming narrative. Based on her mother's childhood, this somewhat autobiographical account glows with the rich traditions of familial love. Hattie, whose parents came to this country from Germany, lives in Brooklyn during the winter months, and spends the summers in Far Rockaway--in a glorious, sprawling house surrounded by water. But wherever she is, Hattie wants to spend all of her time painting. With the passing years, as Hattie's father becomes wealthier and her surroundings grow even more luxurious, her dream of being an artist becomes increasingly important to her. And, as a young woman, she does what she did as a girl: she listens to the surf crashing onto the Brooklyn shore. `` ` You will make beautiful, beautiful pictures ,' said the wild waves.'' Cooney's lucid, poetic text and striking artwork evoke both the simplicity and the elegance of a bygone era. Ages 3-8. (Oct.)
Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman
This is a family story dedicated to Ms. Cooney's mother. Set in New York in the 1890's, Hattie is accustomed to a life of luxury but her favorite times were the summers when she could listen to the waves at the beach and paint to her heart's content. As she grows up, she knows her destiny. She will be an artist. This is a story of dreams and determination. The striking acrylic paintings recapture the grand lifestyle of a bygone era.
School Library Journal
Gr 1-3-- A little girl recounts the story of her family's life in Brooklyn at the beginning of the century. Her prosperous father builds houses so they can afford to vacation on Coney Island and Long Island, where her imagination blooms. She wishes with the waves and decides to pursue her love of drawing and become an artist when she grows up. Hattie's large extended family gathers for Sunday dinners and holidays, and Cooney fills her graceful prose with details of their daily lives: what they ate, the composition of the furniture, the snippets of German dialect. Her stately paintings, whose landscapes and figures call to mind Miss Rumphius (Penguin, 1982), illuminate these details with warmth and rich tones. While old-fashioned life in a rich household may be foreign to most readers, a child's dream, like Hattie's, is a universal one. The fairly lengthy text and follow-your-calling theme are leavened by Cooney's humorous touches and luminous full-page paintings. The nostalgic mood and subject lend themselves fully to the study of family history, immigration, or a unit on New York. Ornamental endpages like stained glass portend the elegance of Hattie's world. --Marianne Pilla, formerly at Upper Dublin Public Library, Dresher, PA
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