Prairie Days

by Patricia MacLachlan (Author) Micha Archer (Illustrator)

Prairie Days
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

A delicate, stunning account of life on the prairie from Newbery medalist Patricia MacLachlan.

Cool summer mornings begin with the rose orange sun and the smell of earth, and fade into hot summer nights with a yellow moon, covered in a quilt of stars. There are wagon rides, farm dogs, trips into town, and games of kick the can. These are prairie days. Patricia MacLachlan applies her lyrical, sparse voice and vibrant, tender art from Micha Archer to transport readers to the prairie of her youth in this stunning celebration of the beauty in the world.

Select format:
Hardcover
$17.99

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Elaborate sun-filled spreads by Archer (Daniel's Good Day) illuminate Newbery Medalist MacLachlan's farm-life memories in this dazzling picture book. The writer's childhood recollections unspool informally, fondly, as if being recalled for family members: "There were small towns with names we loved--/ Sunrise, Rattlesnake, Chugwater, and Spotted Horse." She knits simple words into lines of beauty: "Where I was born, the earth smelled of cattle and bluegrass and hyssop." Archer's hypnotic images show the prairie stretching out like an ocean, its hues and substance changing and fading toward the horizon. In work of remarkable intricacy, dozens of strips of paper painted in yellows, blues, and greens are cut fine and laid out to represent the long, even furrows of farm fields; lace curtains undulate in a breeze. MacLachlan's memories unfold over one long day, beginning with an orange sun rising and ending with a bed, "where we read under quilts," and a yellow summer moon. Together, words and pictures create a sense of endless space and ample time. Childhoods as free as this one are not as common as they once were; borrowing MacLachlan's is the next best thing. Ages 4-8. (May)

Copyright 2020 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3--This charming story was inspired by MacLachlan's childhood. She recalls waking up with the sun on a summer morning on the prairie. She tells of long, hot summer days spent laying in fields with the smell of wild roses or riding horses on country lanes. With other children she would run and shriek and play kick the can until the darkness came and they returned to bed, reading under the covers while the moon rose yellow. With short, descriptive phrases MacLachlan remembers the beauty of farm life, and the offset portions of text bring rhythm to the words. The paper collage illustrations add intricate texture and detail to the deceptive simplicity of the prairie landscape. Sunrises and sunsets are built with layer upon layer of textured paper so that the landscape fills the page from corner to corner. Nostalgia bleeds into the illustrations, some of which have a scrapbook feel, such as the spread that features store shelves lined with black-and-white images cut out of old catalogues. The human figures are tiny and found nestled into the scenes on most pages, fitting for a story that places them in contrast to the majesty of a beautiful prairie landscape. VERDICT Recommended for purchase.--Laken Hottle, Providence Community Library

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"With short, descriptive phrases MacLachlan remembers the beauty of farm life, and the offset portions of text bring rhythm to the words...the paper collage illustrations add intricate texture and detail to the deceptive simplicity of the prairie landscape. The human figures are tiny and found nestled into the scenes on most pages, fitting for a story that places them in contrast to the majesty of a beautiful prairie landscape." - School Library Journal
Patricia MacLachlan

Patricia MacLachlan (1938-2022) was the award-winning author of many novels for children, including the Newbery Medal and Scott O'Dell Award-winning Sarah, Plain and Tall, which was adapted into a Hallmark television movie starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken. She co-wrote the teleplay for the film as well as for two sequels, Skylark and Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End, based on her novels.

Honored with a Christopher Award and a National Humanities Medal among many others, MacLachlan was also the author of Baby, Waiting for the Magic, The Truth of Me, and the picture books Someone Like Me (illustrated by Chris Sheban), and The Iridescence of Birds: A Book About Henri Matisse (illustrated by Hadley Hooper).

Chris Sheban has been awarded three gold and three silver medals from the Society of Illustrators. Some of the books he has illustrated are I Met a Dinosaur by Jan Wahl, Catching the Moon by Myla Goldberg, and What To Do With a Box by Jane Yolen. Someone Like Me is his first book with Roaring Brook Press.

Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781442441910
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication date
May 26, 2020
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV013000 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | General
JUV016150 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | United States - 20th Century
JUV024000 - Juvenile Fiction | Lifestyles | Country Life
Library of Congress categories
Prairies

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