I'm in Charge of Celebrations ANNOTATION
A dweller in the desert celebrates a triple rainbow, a chance encounter with a coyote, and other wonders of the wilderness.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Byrd Baylor's text captures and shares some of the special experiences in the Southwest desert country that have inaugurated her private celebrations: The Time of Falling Stars, in the middle of August, when "every time a streak of light goes shooting through the darkness, I feel my heart shoot out of me"; Rainbow Celebration Day, marking the time she and a jackrabbit stood together watching a triple-rainbow over a canyon; and the real New Year's Day (January first is "just another winter day"), the day spring begins. "I celebrate with horned toads and ravens and lizards and quail...And, Friend, it's not a bad party."
About the Author:
Byrd Baylor was born in Texas and now lives in Arizona. Her previous books illustrated by Peter Parnall include The Desert Is Theirs, Hawk, I'm Your Brother, and The Way to Start a Day, all Caldecott Honor Books. They also collaborated on Desert Voices, Everybody Needs a Rock, and If You Are a Hunter of Fossils. Peter Parnall lives in Maine.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
According to PW, ``Danziger's witty sequel to Remember Me to Harold Square has all of the zip of that novelplus the historically rich setting of London.'' Ages 10-14. (Oct.)
School Library Journal
Gr 1-4 Another collaboration set in the desert from this author/artist team. The styles are consistent: typically twin columns of very short lines of prose set into double-page spreads of intense colors and large white spaces. This is a paean to the forces of nature active in the desert, and a young woman's love of her environment that motivates many private celebrations: Coyote Day, Dust Devil Day, The Time of Falling Stars. The words are personal descriptions of responses to events. The images, however, are much more universal, abstract visualizations. Again the black line helps define horizons, animals, and dust devils (whirlwinds), but it's the sweep of pure color shapes appearing almost stenciled in their sharp-edgedness that will grab children's attention. Parnall can make his audience see empty space as solid form, can juxtapose a red against a pale blue and set the page on fire. But he can also add travel poster cacti that destroy the mysticism of his suggestive abstractions. Still, the partnership thrives in this latest work. Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
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