Synopses & Reviews
Review
This solid story is taken to a whole new level by Zahares's amazing artwork. Using pastels in deep and heavy hues, solid shapes, and unusual perspectives, he provides images that roll breathtakingly across the pages. . . . Some of the scenes show the hard work of frontier life, but they are shrouded in colors that give the effort an almost mystic edge. An intriguing mix of old-fashioned storytelling and cutting-edge art.
Review
This solid story is taken to a whole new level by Zahares's amazing artwork. Using pastels in deep and heavy hues, solid shapes, and unusual perspectives, he provides images that roll breathtakingly across the pages. . . . Some of the scenes show the hard work of frontier life, but they are shrouded in colors that give the effort an almost mystic edge. An intriguing mix of old-fashioned storytelling and cutting-edge art.
Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
The patterned cadence of the prose befits this folkloric gold-rush yarn. . . . With unusual perspectives and a strong grasp of light and shadow, the stylized spreads take a surrealistic spin that is warmed and animated by soft, sculptured forms that contrast with thick lines and repeated objects. . . . Always mesmerizing. A treasure.
Kirkus Reviews, Starred
Zahares's contemporary, stylized pastel art features electric hues and playful perspectives, lending a bold contrast to the old-time tenor of the easygoing narrative and creating an unlikely, but lucky, pairing.
Publishers Weekly
The sunny story is told in a deliberately deadpan, unruffled tone, and the thickly applied pastel illustrations with their odd perspectives and deep purple shadows catch the other side of the story, too, clearly showing that Jake and his father live a difficult, impoverished life. . . . This will be a good discussion-starter on the topic of luck, especially because wisdom is on the side of its appealingly down-to-earth child character.
Horn Book
Synopsis
When Jake and Pa find a gold nugget big enough to buy a pet, there arenand#8217;t any dogs to be found. And so Jake gets a . . . pig (and#147;four legs, floppy ears, and a tailand#8221;), and he names him Dog.
Lucky for Pa and Jake, Dog has a nose for finding good fortune. And where luck grows like a cornstalkand#151;tall and golden and strongand#151;Dog and Jake are sure to be found, ready for whatever comes next.
About the Author
Sharon Hart Addy is the author of Right Here on This Spot, which won the Archer/Eckbald Picture Book Award, and A Visit with Great-Grandma, a CCBC Choice for 1989, and other books. Her work also appears in children's magazines. Sharon Hart Addy lives in Dells, Wisconsin.Wade Zahares has illustrated many books for children, including Window Music, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. He lives on a farm in Maine and creates children's books in a shed that is in the middle of a field of flowers, gardens, and fruit trees.