Secret Dawn - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 3-A young girl wakes early, dresses, and goes outside to savor daybreak from her special place in a giant willow tree. There she keeps her treasures, including writing materials, and relishes her time to herself. Unfortunately, Chase's poem burdens this simple episode with cloying sentiment, relying on hackneyed phrases such as "In the dim delight of dawn" and "Nobody knows how the little leaves quake." Flat, unimaginative metaphors and verses like: "Up in the willow is wispy and whispery,/Silent and silvery, misty with mystery!" further weaken this effort. Lefebvre's watercolor illustrations evoke the changing hues of dawn and add a gentle, dreamlike quality to the book. Attractive packaging, however, cannot salvage the muddled, sentimental poem.
Marilyn Taniguchi, Santa Monica Public Library, CA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.