If you know Ursula Dubosarsky’s work, your eyes will light
up when you hear she has produced a new one. Her track record for representing
the interior world of the child is well established, and can be evidenced in
the wake of her extensive collection of fiction and nonfiction. Her capacity
for delving into the machinations of a child’s imagination is demonstrated
exquisitely in The Carousel.
When a small girl rides on a carousel, she becomes so
entranced by the experience that the edges of her reality blur into a delicious
world of fantasy. Her wooden horse is infused with life as the carousel whirls
into motion; the girl’s focus shifts from her father on the sidelines to her
relationship with the horse in a magical world that allows them to be ‘free as
wind and hurtle through the wild sky’.
The Carousel
is a stirring story, enchanting and passionate. It is a celebration of wild
abandon, of being transported to a state of being where everything else is
forgotten and anything is possible. The book is suffused with a richness of
symbolism and imagery. There is poignancy in the anticipation of the ride – the
girl, ticket in hand at the gate – and in her disappointment when the carousel
begins to slow, but more so, at the end of the ride, in her desperate wish for
the wooden horses to be set free. Walter Di Qual is a newcomer to book
illustrating. His distinctive depictions of the story in mixed media on Fabriano
paper take the text to another level and infuse the characters with depth and
vibrancy. His evocative portrayal of the horse and the girl range from tender, to
baleful, to feisty.
The Carousel
is dream-like, limitless. It is as veiled and ethereal as it is unbridled and jubilant.
Written in rhyme and meter in constrained quatrains of iambic tetrameter, an
almost restless contrast is established between the free-spiritedness of the story-line
and illustrations and the verse.
This delightful read-aloud picture-story book, in
which a small girl on her horse dares to hope and dream, invites readers to
search for the imagination within themselves. It is engaging and enlivening and
will appeal to young readers and their teachers and parents alike. Older
children will enjoy the story and its themes of freedom and enchantment at a
different level. Highly recommended.
Penguin 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment