A Story Is to Share: How Ruth Krauss Found Another Way to Tell a Tale

To tell the story of Ruth Krauss (1901-1993), an unconventional person who became a writer of unconventional picture books, the creators assemble playful phrases and vignettes in the spirit of their subject. For only child Krauss, "sickness sticks around a lot/ and steals her voice away." What to do? In ink, watercolor, and gouache, Arsenault paints a tiny figure at work, head bandaged, writing, drawing, stitching pages together to make a book: "She finds another way to tell a tale," Higgins writes. Krauss finds "another way to play a song," too, experimentally addressing a violin's strings, but receives rejections when she considers creating a book. Knowing that Krauss's story ends in triumph gives the subject's idiosyncrasies particular significance in a light picture book tribute that foregrounds new ways to think about art-making over a substantive look at the subject's life. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

K-Gr 3—While this picture book biography of children's author Ruth Krauss attempts homage by using the writing style Krauss deployed in such classics as The Carrot Seed and A Hole is to Dig, the result falls short. Young readers will have difficulty connecting the abstract text to the life of Krauss, especially given how much time has passed since her books were published. The reference to The Carrot Seed at the end of the book is subtle, aimed at adults nostalgic for the book, and many of the obstacles and accomplishments of the author are not clearly mentioned in the story. Only the summary at the end of the book fully recounts Krauss's life. VERDICT Illustrations and text pay tribute to Krauss but leave young readers confused as to her story or even why she's worthy of the honor.—Heidi Dechief