Publishers Weekly
When her grief-stricken, widowed father decides to leave Boston to be a pioneer farmer on the Nebraska prairie, Elsie wonders if she'll ever feel at home in the world again. Overwhelmed by "the grass and sky and silence," Elsie cloisters herself in the family's remote sod house. But one day her beloved canary escapes, and Elsie, forced to confront her surroundings, experiences an epiphany: she "finally heard the voices of the plains." Yolen's prose moves gracefully from solemn to euphoric as her young heroine embraces her adopted landscape ("She heard long vees of geese spinning out cries like thread; the creaking call of sandhill cranes.... She clapped her hands and sang back to them, too, skip-rope songs and sea shanties"). But the real draw lies in Small's deeply empathic treatment of his heroine, his unerring sense of composition and color, and, above all, his keen sensitivity to the emotional pull of place. Though Elsie doesn't immediately recognize the beauty of the plains, Small does, imbuing the windswept fields and Elsie's cozy sod house with all the vitality of her former home. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)
Children's Literature
- Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
Elsie has always been a Boston girl. But after her mama dies, Elsie's father's sadness leads him to the decision to go far west to Nebraska, a place where there are few people or even towns at this time in history. Elsie takes her pet canary, Timmy Tune, with her in his cage across the endless, lonely miles. In a sod house in Nebraska Elsie dreams of Boston. Only Timmy brings her comfort. Unfortunately one day he flies out of the open cage. Losing herself on the prairie in search of him, Elsie sings him back. While out there, however, she finally hears "the voices of the prairie." She sings back to them. Her papa calls her back, having brought hens, a rooster, and a hound dog home. Finally Elsie's house becomes "a true prairie home" for her. The lengthy poetic text clearly evokes the emotions of the lonely girl. Small's double-page impressionistic illustrations, rendered in brush and ink with watercolor and pastel, reinforce these emotions. Elsie is an appealing character with her red pigtails and charming smile. The settings bring to life the city of Boston, the long train, the endless silence of the prairie, the sea of grass. We rejoice with Elsie at the happy ending. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz
School Library Journal
Gr 1–4—Elsie, Boston born, loves the sounds and sights—and especially the songs—of the city, but when her mother dies, her father seeks comfort on the frontier of Nebraska. Her new prairie home is all grass and sky and silence and Elsie feels small and afraid. Her only companion, a going-away gift, is Timothy Tune, a canary with whom she exchanges songs throughout her solitary days. When the door to the cage is accidentally left open, Timothy flies free, and Elsie is devastated. Leaving her fears behind, she races through the tall grass to find him and begins to understand the sounds of the prairie and takes them to her heart. When Timothy sings his way back to her—just as her father returns from town with hens, a banty rooster, and a hound dog—Elsie realizes that, at last, she has found a "true prairie home." Yolen's evocative story, full of wonder and warmth, rolls smoothly along on carefully worded phrases, capturing the child's emotions as well as the flavor of the time and setting in a simple yet heartfelt way. Small's delivery, completely in sync with the author's, brings Elsie deftly to life. The illustrations, rendered in brush and ink with watercolor and pastel, realize both the streets of Boston and the grasslands of Nebraska with equal ease and aplomb.—Barbara Elleman, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA
Kirkus Reviews
Elsie moves with her widowed father from bustling 19th-century Boston to the vast Nebraska plains, where she misses the hymns, play songs and hum of her Eastern city. Yolen's measured, moving verse shimmers with brilliantly honed images and sharp details. Readers won't forget the "maple chest / packed with linens her mother had sewn / over the long year before she died." Ink, watercolor and pastel illustrations, both fluid and precise, suggest the brisk movement of the external world and the subtlety of internal emotions. Lithe strokes of color and line describe rippling fields, the arc of a jump-rope and even grief in the face of a father. Masterfully composed full- and half-page spreads frequently place Elsie in upper and outer quadrants, with grasses, land, buildings and bare rooms pushing her into the periphery. She appears marginalized by larger forces, making it easy for young children to empathize with this small, displaced girl who can't see Nebraska's wild, rambling beauty or hear the musical buzz of its insects. This poignant and powerful picture book closes with an uplifting rising of prairie voices--music to Elsie's ears. (Picture book. 4-10)
