Aunt Skilly and the Stranger - Hardcover

Robert Andrew Parker has illustrated more than seventy books for children, including THE HATMAKER'S SIGHN (Orchard Books) and, most recently, SLEDS ON BOSTON COMMON (Simon & Schuster). His POP CORN AND MA GOODNESS was a Caldecott Honor Book. Mr. Parker lives in West Cornwall, Connecticut.

Kindergarten-Grade 3-Aunt Skilly's peaceful life is disrupted by the appearance of a stranger. Her pet goose dislikes him right away, and readers will soon be suspicious of him as well. Nevertheless, the elderly woman forthrightly discloses that her quilts fetch enough money for her to live on all winter, her closest neighbor is a mile away, she doesn't have a dog, and her door doesn't have a bar. When the man returns in the middle of the night to steal the quilts, though, all he gets are corn shucks; Aunt Skilly has been as sharp as can be all along. This charming story has the flavor of an Appalachian folktale. Stevens's skill shows in her graceful images (the quilts have "...stitches as small as the wings of a firefly") and in the exquisite timing of the carefully plotted tale. Parker's watercolors are a perfect match to the text. With sketchy, expressive lines and superb depiction of light, he smoothly creates a variety of moods: in a scene at sunset, Aunt Skilly says goodbye to the stranger, and his mule looks wonderfully earthy in the golden light. On the following page, everything is a delicate silver as the woman sits on her front steps watching night fall. While this title might not seem at first glance to have the instant appeal of brighter or funnier books, children will enjoy it. Excellent for classroom or family sharing.
Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.