Grandfather's Dream

From Publishers Weekly To create this delicate yet penetrating book, Keller ( Horace ; Island Baby ) drew from her experience working on a project called Saving Cranes in Vietnam. Her prologue explains that the Sarus crane, a Vietnamese symbol of long life and happy families, disappeared during the Vietnam War, when canals dug across the bird's wetland habitat drove it and other creatures away. Here, Grandfather repeats this story to Nam, expressing his belief that, when the rains come, the land will flood and "the cranes will come home." But if they don't, Nam's Papa adds, the younger generation of farmers "will take back the land your grandfather and the others have reserved for the birds, and use it to plant more rice." After the monsoons arrive, the old man rises early each day to search for the cranes, but to no avail. Finally, it is Nam who stumbles upon the first sign of their return, which brings joy to Grandfather and the entire village. Featuring earth tones accented with vivid hues, Keller's effectively understated watercolor and black-pen art captures, with a haunting simplicity, both the warning and the hope implicit in her tale. Ages 4-up. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From School Library Journal Kindergarten-Grade 3-Nam lives with his parents, his grandfather, two lively puppies, and assorted other animals in a small village in the Mekong delta. Before the Vietnam War, this area was home to the Sarus crane, considered to be a symbol of long life and happy families, but during the fighting, canals were dug to drain the wetlands and the cranes disappeared. These facts, necessary to understanding the story, are given in a prologue. In Keller's carefully crafted story, Nam's grandfather hopes that the building of new dikes will restore the wetlands and prompt the return of the birds that he remembers so fondly from his youth. The boy's parents think that the land would be better used for planting rice. The relationship between Nam and his grandfather is an affectionate one-they share a love for animals and stories. After the monsoons come, the wetlands are restored, and eventually the cranes return and their magnificence wins over even the most practical villagers. This is a beautiful book with many layers of meaning and an important message. The simple illustrations, done in flat washes of watercolor in earthy tones and outlined in black pen, are lovely and appealing. They add just the right amount of drama and charm for a story told in very simple prose.