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Virginia Wolf (2012)

by Kyo Maclear(Favorite Author)

4.15 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1554536499 (ISBN13: 9781554536498)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Kids Can Press

review 1: This is the story of two sisters. One of them wakes up in a very gloomy mood one day, and her sister does everything to try and cheer her up. Nothing works! Until her sister says that she would rather just go to the perfect place, and she describes it. While she naps, her older sister begins painting and creating the perfect place that her younger sister described. She wakes up and starts feeling better because of it. The text is vibrant and the shapes and sizes of it really portray the feeling of the book. It would be great for a read aloud because of the size of the pictures, the colors, and the concepts in it. At the end of the story, it is the next day, and the younger sister is herself again.
review 2: What a fascinating picturebook (intended for t... morehe Nursery-Primary level and up) about the heavy weight of the doldrums and how art can redeem the darkness of the soul. Loosely based on Virginia Woolf and her sister Vanessa, this book beautifully tells the story of Vanessa who is dealing with her sister Virginia, who wakes up feeling "wolfish" and is not even willing to get out of bed. Vanessa tries many things to cheer up her sister and is eventually successful only once she listens to her describe her dreams and wishes. Vanessa paints Virginia's dream garden-world, and wolfish depressed Virginia is transformed back into a real girl, capable of happiness again. The illustrations echo the story in such a meaningful way; in the beginning everything is gray and charcoal-smudgy, Virginia depicted as the silhouette of a wolf in a dress. There is limited color, but as Vanessa begins to paint Virginia's interior dream-world, everything gets so pretty and colorful. The text actually includes references to Woolf's real life experience and writings, which adds another layer of meaning to the book for an audience familiar with Woolf and her mental illness. I love how such a heavy, serious topic is handled in an appropriate way for a young audience. One doesn't need to know the background information of Virginia Woolf to get the gist of how difficult feelings can rob a person of joy and how art and imagination can be the one saving grace for a person lost in them. The text is handwritten in various styles to emphasize the characters' emotions, and the artwork is kind of wild and hand-drawn, which gives the reader the feeling that this is a very human book about untamed human emotion. It's a poignant and lovely book that would appeal to both adults and kids of an artistic temperament. I would use this picturebook in an art class in a lesson on representing feelings in texture and color. less

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