  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 01/01/2013 K-Gr 1—This quiet, thoughtful book will undoubtedly serve as an opening to a special conversation about family roots. It connects several generations of women through the passing down of a necklace. The narrator relates the moment when she received it from her mother, and then the story moves backward, threading linked accounts of the gifting of the necklace to the woman of each previous generation. Although the profiles are brief, they are rich, incorporating a range of life experiences and, quite wonderfully, the blending of different ethnicities within the family. Ibatoulline's lovely, detailed illustrations have a warm glow, but there are a couple of instances when the faces of the women look odd, as though they were cut and pasted from another piece of artwork. This book may not draw kids' immediate attention, but shared in a family-themed storytime or as a jumping-off point for a discussion about ancestry, it will definitely inspire youngsters to think about their own family trees.—Alyson Low, Fayetteville Public Library, AR - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 02/01/2013 Few of today’s children can trace their ancestry back more than a generation or two. But this inspiring first-person account of a crystal necklace handed down from granddaughter to granddaughter across four generations may spark their interest. The story begins with a contemporary girl and works backward until it reaches Frances, an Irish girl who came to America and married a farmer. The acrylic gouache illustrations are idealized yet realistic, and glow with rich colors of sunset skies and warm kitchens. Wyeth details in her author’s note how the oral tradition in her own family inspired the tale, right down to her joint African/Irish heritage. Though classified as fiction, the book is clearly a personal journey, capturing individual moments that connect a family of women over the years, enlivened with images of grace, depth, and emotion. - Copyright 2013 Booklist. Loading...
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