Reviews

• 四季の移ろいを通して世界の一部としての島を描くコールデコット金賞受賞作品

  語数 717 YL 2.2 『Goodnight Moon』などの作品で知られるMargaret Wise Brown氏 による作品で、一つの島の四季の移ろいを通して、小さな島も世界の 一部であることを知らしめてくれる味わい深い英語絵本です。 他から遠く離れた海の中に、一つの小さな島がありました。波は打ち つけ、周りに魚は泳ぎ、この小さな島にも雲や霧も風もやってきます。 春になれば花が咲き、ロブスターは脱皮をするために島の安全な場所 に上がり、アザラシたちは子育てをします。渡り鳥もやって来るし、カモメ は岩肌の平らな場所に卵を産みます。 そして、野イチゴも赤みを増した頃、夏もやってきました。洋ナシの実も 実り始め、この小さな島の周りにもヨットを楽しむ人たちの姿が見られる ようになってきました。そしてある日、何人かの人と一緒に黒い子猫が 一匹この島にやって来ました。そしてこの猫はあることを島に尋ねますが…。 この本では、見開きの左ページには韻を踏んだ美しい英語が書かれ、右ペ ージには四季の移ろいを見事に表した美しいイラストが描かれています。 このイラスト、ストーリー、そして猫と島と魚の対話を通して、自然界のすべて のものがお互いに関連しあっていること、そして小さな島も世界とつながって いることを感じさせてくれます。 1947年のコールデコット金賞受賞作品であり、日本でも谷川俊太郎の訳で 『ちいさな島』の邦題で日本語版も刊行されている作品です。何回も読む ことで味わいも深まります。

• Extraordinary collaboration between the great Leonard Weisgard and Margaret Wise Brown.

  On vacation, so don't have book to hand. But I want to tell you this. Leonard Weisgard stands in a class of his own. He was one of the great illustrators of his times. Illustrators have always known that. Wonderful that some of his work is now being rediscovered and reprinted for the rest of us, though not nearly enough. (Where is Weisgard's beautiful Alice in Wonderland, perhaps the loveliest Alice interpretations since Tenniel and Rackham?) The Little Island is a declaration of love to a little island and to the sea and the sky and and the wind and the returning seasons, to the energy and mystery of the earth. The pictures and the stories can be understood and enjoyed by a small child and by every other human being. In the story, even a curious little black kitten comes to understand something of the marvels and mysteries of the infinitely connected universe. Some adults will find themselves wondering as they read if it is pretentious to drift towards "No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main..." Here is the last page of Weisgard's and Wise's Island story: "Nights and days came and passed And summer and winter and the sun and the wind and the rain. And it was good to be a little Island. A part of the world and a world of its own all surrounded by the bright blue sea." Buy this book and give it to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear, of any age. You will make them happy.

• Five Stars

  Poetic and thought-provoking.

• Was a hit for my Niece's Birthday.

  Beautiful illustrations and a story that holds up well for children even after 70+ years.

• Well done!

  As a Montessori teacher, I really liked the way the story of the Island was presented. It has a good message in the end. The children were really attentive and interested.

• Uno dei miei preferiti

  È un libro particolare, nel senso che ha una storia ma un po' disorganizzata. Comunque mio bimbo è affascinato di questo libro, perciò lo leggiamo spesso. Più lo leggiamo più mi piace, ma posso capire che non è per tutti. Un po' troppo filosofico.

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