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Little Black Crow
Picture a sky as big as all outdoors,
a fence disappearing over a hill,
a crow then appearing,
a boy looking up,
watching, wondering.
Not much more than a moment
but the meeting
lofts a rush of childhood questions—
27 in all—inspiring answers
as big as all outdoors.
Caldecott medalist Chris Raschka,
himself the boy perhaps,
has created a book in the sparest language
against the simples...more
a fence disappearing over a hill,
a crow then appearing,
a boy looking up,
watching, wondering.
Not much more than a moment
but the meeting
lofts a rush of childhood questions—
27 in all—inspiring answers
as big as all outdoors.
Caldecott medalist Chris Raschka,
himself the boy perhaps,
has created a book in the sparest language
against the simples...more
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
August 31st 2010
by Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
(first published June 7th 2010)
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A gentle, reflective book for kids that would work for older children at storytime but would be even better one on one. The pastel illustrations would be difficult to see if you had a large storytime group. This book would be great to create dialogue between a parent and child.
Summary from Publishers Weekly: Surrounded by blurry blue watercolor skies and wheat-brown daubs suggestive of autumn fields, a boy sits on a rail fence and talks to a small crow. At first, his rhyming questions seem simpl...more
Summary from Publishers Weekly: Surrounded by blurry blue watercolor skies and wheat-brown daubs suggestive of autumn fields, a boy sits on a rail fence and talks to a small crow. At first, his rhyming questions seem simpl...more
A little boy sits on a fence and wonders about the life of a little crow. Where does the crow go in the snow? Where does it go in a storm? Who does it meet? Does it ever complain about the cold and wet? How does it sleep? And most vital of all, is it really a boy, like him with similar feelings and wonders? Raschka takes his spare verse and asks deep questions about animals and their relationship to humans. Through it all, his watercolor images move, transitioning as the book continues from a bl...more
Ever since I read - with a good degree of horror and confusion - Chris Raschka's thankfully out-of-print Arlene Sardine I have been wary of picking up another book of his. I find there's enough that's out of sorts with the world, which perhaps explains my reluctance at having to be faced with uncomfortable visual mysteries in art, which is what a lot of Chris Raschka's art is like in my experience: high energy, larger than life, and a little insane. Perhaps some would take this as a compliment!...more
Beautiful!
A little boy looks up at the little black crow in the sky and wonders about him, what he does, how he feels, where he goes, whom he meets, etc.
This book features some very unique watercolor illustrations.
The text rhymes and features a lot of repetition, which might make it a good fit for beginning readers. It is written completely as a series of questions to little black crow, which is a unique form of writing and could be used to highlight this.
It could be used to address relating to others, a...more
This book features some very unique watercolor illustrations.
The text rhymes and features a lot of repetition, which might make it a good fit for beginning readers. It is written completely as a series of questions to little black crow, which is a unique form of writing and could be used to highlight this.
It could be used to address relating to others, a...more
The latest book from the Caldecott medalist follows a young boy as he wonders about the life of crow. -- “Little black crow, where do you go in the cold white snow?” The book expertly captures the curiosity and wonderment of being a child, as the boy’s questions progress to wondering about the crow’s family to whom he loves, to whether or not the crow ever wonders about boys like him. This is a quieter book than many of Raschka’s - with watercolor illustrations in muted tones that match the spar...more
Aw--I really like this one! Bold illustrations done in watercolor and ink make this another great one from Chris Raschka. What I like best about this book is the series of questions that it poses, without really giving any answers. It invites the child to answer and to wonder, and I love that it wanders without any real resolution, except that in the end the little boy and the crow find each other. This is a great one to use for those preschool kids who are old enough to understand how to make p...more
I'm not a big Chris Raschka fan. I know, I know...but his art just does not seem kid friendly to me. But that's just me.
This is a cute question/answer type book. Children will explore all kinds of relationships through the answers provided by the pictures. Not a good storytime book as the pictures are hard to decipher at any amount of distance. Best suited to caregiver/child read alouds.
This is a cute question/answer type book. Children will explore all kinds of relationships through the answers provided by the pictures. Not a good storytime book as the pictures are hard to decipher at any amount of distance. Best suited to caregiver/child read alouds.
I really wanted to like Little Black Crow more because it has all the makings of a fabulous picture book: great illustrations, rhyming text, a lovely little message...
I just didn't connect with this book I guess. I know there are kids out there though that will just love this book and recognize all the beauty it holds. For me, it was just alright.
I just didn't connect with this book I guess. I know there are kids out there though that will just love this book and recognize all the beauty it holds. For me, it was just alright.
The almost Asian-style watercolor illustrations intrigued me... particularly the cartoon crow who was strangely reminiscent of the inebriated comic star Drinky Crow.
I'm not sure the picture book set would be able to follow along with the text.
I'm not sure the picture book set would be able to follow along with the text.
I am such a Chris Raschka fangirl. He somehow manages to make his books both simple and complex...the perfect picture book combination. Little Black Crow is about a child looking at a crow, and a crow looking at a child. But the questions the child asks are true, thoughtful, and universal. Lovely.
A boy spies a crow and wonders about the connections between the crow's life and his. The prose, guided by the boy's questions, is lyrical. I found the illustrations, particularly the crow himself, heavy-handed and impersonal.
A little boy asks the crow about the things he sees and how he feels, revealing more about the little boy than the crow. Good for your little question-askers. They can come up with their own answers in this one.
Written & illustrated by the author; also, illustrated the award-winning, "Hello, Goodbye Window." I love his simple watercolor drawings; a perfect fit w/the simple story.
I am sorry, Raschka, I just can't appreciate your work. I have tried and tried, but I don't think I am deep enough to understand it.
As always, Raschka has lovely watercolor illustrations. The rhyme scheme is simple and easy for the 6 year old to read to us.
I liked the words better then the illustrations, and there was something about the text that was a little off for the age. The vocabulary seemed a little bit too advanced for the sorts of things that the boy is wondering. But there are moments when the boy and the bird are beautifully evoked. Still this doesn't come close to Henkes' Birds at capturing the spirit of birds and children observing them.
consider as possible Caldecott ... suprisingly I liked this one and I am not a Raschka fan even after meeting him.
simple rhyme & illustrations, the story is a boy wondering aloud about the doings of a little black crow.
Nice rhyming text and adorable stort about a boy who is pondering the life of little black crow.
This is an other book that encourages talk also it is essentially a book of questions.
This is cute, but as always, I'm less whelmed than I ought to be by Chris Raschka.
Perfectly captures a child's pensive wondering about crows and life and himself.
Interesting watercolor and ink illustrations. Short enough for story time.
Who vs, whom? Argh. This had potential until that krept up and annoyed me.
Simple text, swirling illustrations, and a very animated crow.
Raschka strikes me as an amazing artist and a below average storyteller. I love his illustrations in this (as always). The muted brown, grey, blue, etc give the story a lonely feeling, and the simplistic, watercolor sketches are unique. In the story, a child wonders about the life of a little black crow, but comes to no real conclusion. I'm not sure it's intended this way, but it seemed to have a double meaning about how even people who seem very different from you can actually be much the same....more
Simple and thoughtful, a story that leaves you with a smile.
Beautifully illustrated and a great book for storytime.
This one is too sing songy for me.
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"I always try to treat the book itself as the artwork," Chris Raschka says. "I don't want you to stop while you're reading one of my books and say, 'Oh! What a gorgeous illustration!' I want you to stop at the end of the book and say, 'This is a good book.' "
Chris Raschka is one of those people who knew from an early age what he wanted to be when he grew up. "It was never a question in my mind,"...more
More about Chris Raschka...
Chris Raschka is one of those people who knew from an early age what he wanted to be when he grew up. "It was never a question in my mind,"...more
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