Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel

ANNOTATION

Miss Bridie emigrates to America in 1856 and chooses to bring a shovel, which proves to be a useful tool throughout her life.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The journey begins for a young immigrant named Miss Bridie. It is a journey of hope and uncertainty, a journey that will take her to a new land, a new home, and—if she has chosen wisely—a good life.

With elegant woodcuts, Caldecott medalist Mary Azarian brings to life Leslie Connor's spare story of a life rich with blessings, yet not without challenges. Here is a lyrical tribute to the millions of immigrants who left their homes to begin anew in America—and an enchanting look at how one woman carves out a life with the help of a common shovel.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Books for young children come in categories: board books, picture books, chapter books. I have a category of my own: the lap book. They are the books a reasonably bright 3-year-old loves to look at while sitting in my lap and listening. A really good lap book will keep an entire group of 5-year-olds happy despite the 3-year-old in the reader's lap, if the reader turns the book around from time to time and allows conversation about the pictures. A truly great lap book is one an 8-year-old will return to, holding it on her lap as she sits on the floor, finding more and more to understand as her own world enlarges. Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel...may well be one of the truly great lap books.—Jane O'Reilly

Publishers Weekly

"She could have picked a chiming clock or a porcelain figurine, but Miss Bridie chose a shovel back in 1856," opens Connor's beguiling first children's book, which uses the single detail of the shovel to illuminate the whole of an immigrant's lifetime of pluck, struggle and grace. As Caldecott Medalist Azarian's (Snowflake Bentley) trademark woodcuts evoke a homespun beauty from her period settings, Connor describes Miss Bridie leaning on the shovel as she rocks in her cabin, crossing the Atlantic on a ship bound for New York; digging out a little garden behind the shop where she works and selling the plants she grows; and scraping the snow from the river in the city park, so she can skate-and, in the process, meets the man she will marry. Miss Bridie and her husband move to the country, run a farm and have children, and while their fortunes do not always run smoothly, Miss Bridie's self-reliance only grows stronger. When lightning strikes and fire destroys the barn, Miss Bridie searches through the ashes to find her shovel blade (an illustration to the left of one spread shows the couple stooping amid the smoldering rubble), then fashions a new handle (in the facing illustration, Miss Bridie works resolutely with her tools, the frame of a barn in clear view out her window). The well-turned, lilting narrative and beautifully matched artwork offer a stirring portrait of a woman of inspiring resourcefulness; the pronounced vertical format subtly emphasizes the heroine's ability to stand tall. Ages 4-8. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

This fresh look at the experiences of an immigrant to America begins with a choice. Of all the items Miss Bridie could have taken with her on her brave voyage to New York in 1856, the shovel is her unusual choice. She first uses it to dig a garden and grow plants to sale. The shovel accompanies her to her farm home when she marries, where it proves very useful through the years for many purposes, from digging holes for fence posts, seeds, and a pond to shoveling coal. When the handle is burned in a terrible fire, she makes a new one and rebuilds. She uses it to plant a tree in her husband's memory when he dies, and to clear the snow from the frozen pond so her grandchildren can skate there. What a fine choice she made! Azarian's colored woodcuts in full and double-page scenes visualize this homespun history with appropriate details of objects, animals and landscape in a quiet, appealing, old-fashioned style. The medium tends to produce frozen moments which characterize the event, whether it's freeing a buggy stuck in the mud or waiting impatiently for bread to come out of a cast-iron stove. The story of a strong, resourceful woman in our history is an inspiring one. 2004, Houghton Mifflin Company, Ages 4 to 9.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 3-Instead of a pretty keepsake as a reminder of her homeland, the practical Miss Bridie selects a shovel to accompany her to a new life in America in 1856. Once in New York City, she uses it to plant flowers, which she sells to supplement her income from the millinery shop where she works. The implement is employed in a variety of ways over her lifetime, including clearing a pond for ice skating, digging postholes for fences on the farm she shares with her new husband, planting seeds for an apple orchard, and adding coal to the stove to keep her children warm. Azarian's accomplished woodcuts and watercolor illustrations adroitly convey the determination of a strong woman who lives a good, but often not easy, life. Through one or two sentences per page, the story shows her fortitude as she experiences the highs and lows of life, confident in the knowledge that, with her shovel, she can succeed at anything through her own ingenuity and hard work.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews