By Trolley Past Thimbledon Bridge

Starred review from March 1, 2015
With echoes of Lear and Stevenson, this journey into the land of dreams pairs a detailed Old World setting with a pulsing four-beat rhythm to pull readers into its magical realm. Bileck, illustrator of Julian Scheer's Rain Makes Applesauce (1964), originally created these graphite-and-colored-pencil drawings for a children's manuscript by Virginia Woolf. When her estate canceled the project, Bryan collaborated on a new text with his longtime friend. Masterful wordplay, alliteration, imagery, and rhyme contribute to this 29-stanza poem, printed in its entirety at the opening and then woven throughout the densely populated pages in a hand-printed text. Thimbledon Bridge "is a merry mile long. / No one can cross who is cross. / It boasts a moon quite enormously blown / By bubble-man, bassoonist, Peat Moss." Spools, needles, and thimbles weave the emerging tapestry, both out of and "into the blue." Pinwheels and performers, giraffes and camels, turrets and greenery unfold in a fantastical, surreal parade. The images are alternately richly saturated with color or rendered with such a pale line as to be slipping from sight. The seamstress/narrator appears at the beginning and conclusion as a benevolent figure, relaxing in a rocker. Inside she becomes the wild Wind-Witch, hoary and zombielike, in compositions as disturbing as the rest are delightful.Bileck and Bryan capture the stuff of dreams in this mesmerizing and multifaceted pageant. (contributors' notes) (Picture book. 5-9)

September 1, 2015

Gr 2-4-The late Marvin Bileck was a prolific illustrator perhaps best known for his Caldecott Honor Rain Makes Applesauce (Holiday House, 1985). He had been contacted by Virginia Woolf's estate to illustrate the only children's story she ever wrote. After 10 years, the estate withdrew the contract, leaving Bileck with numerous illustrations but no text. Enter his close friend, noted illustrator Bryan. The two collaborated on fresh text, and after decades the book has finally reached publication. There is no linear plot here, rather a poetic dreamlike fantasy: "Our dreams and our fancies/take off in our play/What's real, what's imagined/No one can say." The succeeding 28 verses are presented in a small but readable font on the first two pages with just a few spot illustrations. It's helpful to read them through several times, as the rest of the book interweaves those same verses with richly but often minutely detailed illustrations and the text wandering in and out of the pictures in a small, very pale font that is frequently obscured by those pictures. The text contains many interesting images, but they occasionally seem to be quite random. How "seek no further/marry me/meandering maid/in my apple tree" connects with this trolley ride is difficult to ascertain. VERDICT This lovely book is best presented one-on-one by an enthusiastic adult. For large or specialized collections.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.