On Bird Hill by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Bob Marstall
There’s something calming about this story that I really love. It feels like There’s a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea or Rattlin’ Bog, that type of breaking things down into smaller and smaller pieces. The book jacket informs us it’s a new version of The Green Grass Grew All Around, which of course it is.
Marstall’s illustrations are simple and lovely. They remind me a bit of the German/Polish/Amish type art you can find where I grew up, but the vegetation is the tiniest bit Where the Wild Things Are. All of this hits perfect chords with me. Everything is sophisticated and highbrow until we get to what I consider the best spread in the book. The hatched egg containing the boy’s home and the most ridiculous squawking, stretching chick. The reoccurring theme that everything contains everything is conveyed really well by the art, not doing too much and making it hard to discern.
I’m really excited that this will be a series of books to benefit the Cornell Lab for Ornithology. I very much look forward to more.