Phyllis La Farge

Summary:
Granny invited her granddaughter, Julie, to visit her in the country. Julie was allowed to bring a friend, so she brought her friend Sarah, who had never been to the country and was a city girl. All three of them do fun activities in the nature such as hunting tadpoles and building dams out of stones by the waterfalls. Suddenly, a storm is approaching, and it also happens to be time for bed. Sarah, having been nervous about the country, feared the made up "swamp halibuts" that Granny told them about, and she was also anxious about the thunderstorm. Sarah had a nightmare that they were crawling on her bed. Once Granny assured the girls that "swamp halibuts" were not real, they fell asleep. The next morning they had breakfast and reminisced about he fun activities they did.

The central message of this book is to step out of your comfort zone to experience new things. It is ok to be fearful, but in the end when you are with people who care for you, you end up having a fun time. I enjoyed the story of this book, and I really liked the character Julie. Julie was always helping Sarah when it came to unfamiliar country activities, and she talked so highly of her Granny. For instance, she told her Granny, "when I'm big, do you think I'll be like you?" Granny assured her that she already is..."brave and good at country things." I do not like how there were not many illustrations. I felt the author and illustrator could have included more pictures of when they built dams, because young children may not understand what a "dam" is, so it is good to give them a visual image.… (mehr)

I don't think I'd ever heard of Phyllis La Farge before picking up Joanna Runs Away, but when I saw that it had been illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman - one of my all-time favorite picture-book artists - I decided to give it a try. The story of a lonely young girl whose single mom is always away at work, it follows Joanna as she gradually becomes fixated on Costanza, the horse who pulls the vegetable wagon through her Brooklyn neighborhood. Dreaming of the life she and Costanza could lead together, far away in the green countryside, Joanna finds herself unexpectedly running away...

Although this early-reader chapter-book from 1973 has a somewhat dated feel, I did like the diversity of characters, and the author's sensitive appreciation of the fact that children sometimes transgress almost by accident, without thinking things through. But the real appeal here, for me anyway, was Hyman's two-tone artwork, done in pencil and ink. Her fans will recognize the style instantly, right down to the lettering of the chapter-names, and will appreciate this book for that reason.… (mehr)