There is a little island in the ocean—and this book is about how it is on that little island, how the seasons and the storm and the day and n...
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Aug 20, 2011
Heather
rated it: 
1947 Caldecott Medal Winner
The art in this book is either done in a combination of water color and some other kind of paint (maybe acrylic), or it's all watercolor and it's just unusually dark--not sure. Style is more representational than realistic, but still pretty detailed. Very pretty.
This is a neat nature book about a little island. A random kitten visits on a boat and the island explains to the kitten that it's part of the rest of the world. Kind of a cool book More...
The art in this book is either done in a combination of water color and some other kind of paint (maybe acrylic), or it's all watercolor and it's just unusually dark--not sure. Style is more representational than realistic, but still pretty detailed. Very pretty.
This is a neat nature book about a little island. A random kitten visits on a boat and the island explains to the kitten that it's part of the rest of the world. Kind of a cool book More...
Jun 24, 2010
Miriam
rated it: 
Margaret Wise Brown is the author of many beloved childrens' classics, most famously Goodnight Moon. I recently reread that and several other of her books. This one, which I found today at the Cabrillo Lighthouse gift shop, was new to me. Perhaps because it has no associations with my childhood I looked at it a bit more critically and thought: Brown is really kind of surreal.
Don't get me wrong, that is not a complaint! I enjoy surrealism, especially in picture books. It was just a bi More...
Don't get me wrong, that is not a complaint! I enjoy surrealism, especially in picture books. It was just a bi More...
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Jul 08, 2009
Stephanie
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"No man is an island," said John Donne, and no island is an island either. In The Little Island, the Caldecott-award-winning book authored by Margaret Wise Brown, a little Island speaks to a black Kitten, and tells the Kitten that it, too, is connected to the earth, down under the sea. But, still, the sea is a barrier to those that walk on land. The Kitten can only visit the Island via boat, and returns to the mainland after spending some time with the Island and its creatures. The
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Jul 05, 2011
Debra
rated it: 
Odd. There are two books with the same title listed as having won the Caldecott this year, but they are written by different authors ~ Golden MacDonald and Margaret Wiess Brown. Have I been looking at the screen too long? I read the Golden MacDonald version. It read at first like a nature based picture book, and then a kitten came along and religious overtones suddenly presented themselves. Mixed feelings and messages.
Mar 09, 2010
Josiah
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This book is vintage Margaret Wise Brown, taking a relatively simple location like this Little Island and finding a quiet, unobtrusive story in the observation of the continually shifting life that makes its home on the island. As the seasons shift, so does the type of life that makes its home on and around the island, and since the seasons change without end, so does this ecological cycle repeat in perpetuity.
The gentle writing of Margaret Wise Brown in The Little Island is striki More...
The gentle writing of Margaret Wise Brown in The Little Island is striki More...
Jul 13, 2011
Elizabeth S
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First, the author's name. Took me a while to figure out that Golden MacDonald is a pseudonym for Margaret Wise Brown. Personally, I think it is ironic that this book won the Caldecott Medal, which is given for great ILLUSTRATIONS, yet it is the author of the TEXT who is well known. Go figure.
The book itself. 2 1/2 stars. The illustrations certainly matched the feel of the book, so well done there. But the pictures themselves didn't speak to me. The story kinda came and went. At More...
The book itself. 2 1/2 stars. The illustrations certainly matched the feel of the book, so well done there. But the pictures themselves didn't speak to me. The story kinda came and went. At More...
Jul 20, 2009
Kathryn
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I really loved the beginning and ending of this book--a loving look at a little island as if told by a poet and naturalist. The seasons change, different flora and fauna cover the island, etc. The mid-section with the little kitten that comes to the island is just too didactic and out-of-place for me, though. The bit about the kitty being an island--yet the island being connected to the world--and about the meaning of faith--just don't seem to fit the rest of the story and seemed, dare I say
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Jul 10, 2011
Lynn
rated it:
As a parent who grew up on Dr. Sesus, it drove me crazy to read "Goodnight Moon" to my son. In fact, I was sure that all of her books would be like that book. Fortunately, my favorite bookseller in the children's section at our B&N told me to give Margaret Wise Brown's other books a chance. I am so glad that I listened to her because this book is wonderful, and is nothing like "Goodnight Moon". It is an enjoyable read about a little island and how the island changes through t
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Sep 11, 2011
Annabellecarter
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The little Island by Margaret Wise Brown was not one of my favorite readings for this week. The illustrations in this book were excellent and related very well to the story. However, i didn't think the book was very entertaining. There was not much of a story line; the book describes how the little island changes when the different seasons come, when night falls and when there is a storm. Margaret does an excellent job in setting the scene and making you feel like you are on the island, she uses
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May 01, 2010
Jessica
rated it:
Once there was a little island in the ocean. That little island changes as the seasons come and go. The storm and the day and night change it. So do the lobsters and seals and gulls that stop by. Then one day a kitten visits the little island and learns a secret that every child will enjoy.
-Thanks to goodreads
Literary Awards and Nominations:
Caldecott Medal
Although this story was awarded the Caldecott award I was not impressed. The story seemed to be all over t More...
-Thanks to goodreads
Literary Awards and Nominations:
Caldecott Medal
Although this story was awarded the Caldecott award I was not impressed. The story seemed to be all over t More...
Jul 10, 2011
Susan
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I found this disappointing. Published only one year earlier by the author of Goodnight Moon, I guess I expected this one to be of the same caliber. It starts and ends as a simple description of a little island and its plants and animals as the seasons change. But somehow in the middle, the island and a kitten start talking, and a fish tells the kitten about faith. I couldn't help but wonder where that came from, and why it intruded on the simple, straightforward description of the island.
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Jun 28, 2010
Relyn
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Since reading Margaret, Frank, and Andy, I've been reading some Margaret Wise Brown books. I never really read many of hers since I disliked Goodnight Moon so entirely. Man! I really gypped Sloane. Her books are wonderful; lyrical and lovely and deceptively simple. For the most part, Sloane is too old now to really love her books. I'll have to wait until she's an adult. She'll be young enough again then to love them.
Oct 10, 2011
Abby
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These illustrations really are stunning. I'm not sure what medium was used, but I love the look and mood of the images, especially with how well it captured the movement and emotion of the ocean. Also, the story is subtly philosophical, teaching the reader that, like the little island, we are our own entities, but we are still connected to the world even when it seems like we are all alone. It's a lovely book all around.
Jan 23, 2011
Erica
rated it:
1947 Award winner. Fairly simple, non-rhyming tale about a teensy, tiny island. Watercolors in cool blues, greens and browns. Two pages have a splash of red. At first the story seemed like an informational nature story, then in the middle, a kitten appears on a boat with two people. The island talks to the kitten, then the kitten converses with a fish about faith. Odd book. Rec for p-2 who like nature.
Jan 23, 2012
Ashley
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I didn't care for this book too much. I found the storyline a little odd and probably wouldn't read it to my kids. It is a 1947 Caldecott winner and the pictures are the "typical" picture book illustrations that I think of when thinking of children books. There are many bright colors and it looks like ti was done with some kind of water based paint. The pictures are good but not great.
Jan 14, 2012
Donalyn
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"...it was good to be a little Island. A part of the world and a world of its own all surrounded by a bright blue sea." I liked this book because of the descriptions of island life. Like many of the reviews I read here, I thought the appearance of the kitten was a little bizarre, but I liked the greater message about faith from that episode, so I forgive its randomness.
Jan 30, 2012
Sarah
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This charming story shows a little island and its inhabitants from spring into summer. A kitten comes to visit and engages the island in a conversation about its "island-ness" - the island is connected to the earth in a way the kitten isn't. Vivid watercolors showing native plants, animals, and birds pair with text on the facing page.
Feb 25, 2009
Rhiannon
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A really charming picture book in which we get to see an island go through its seasonal and daily cycles. And a boat arrives that has a kitten on it, and the kitten communes with the island and learns that all of the world is connected (at one point the kitten describes himself as "a little fur Island").
Jan 27, 2010
Dolly
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Picturesque views of a tiny island (based on the animals, I'm guessing off the New England coast) with a short narrative that is melodic. The addition of the kitten is a bit strange, but overall the book is a short and sweet look at life on a small "uninhabited" island as the seasons progress.
Dec 16, 2011
Brian
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There is a little island all by itself. It is constantly changing with the seasons. Lobsters and gulls even change the whole landscape of the island as well. A good book to show children how things change with the environment and the way animals change the environment.
Apr 09, 2011
Ebony
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Clever story about a little island and the things that make the island a part of the world. I would use this book in the classroom as an example of descriptive writing, and it can also be used in the science curriculum to discuss islands, weather and ocean/island animals.
Oct 08, 2010
Dianna
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First of all, lovely pictures. I liked how this book followed the seasons and just painted a word-picture of the little island. But the part with the cat being an island was just weird. I think I would have liked it better if people (and cats) had not come to the island.
Jul 01, 2011
Kristy
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I'm seriously starting to think that "Caldecott Medal winner" is another term for "stupid book." This really had no freaking point except for some lame mention of the fact that no matter how small we are we're connected to the world and everything around us.
May 01, 2010
Karissa
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This book centers around a little island and what each season brings. This would be good to use with a lesson on the seasons or even habitats. I was not impressed with the text, but it did receive the Caldecott Medal for it's illustrations in 1947.
Jan 16, 2010
Chelsea
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I really enjoyed this book and I think it would be good for children ages five through eight. I think learning about the little island is interesting because it is through the islands view. I thought it was a cute book for young children to understand!
Jun 06, 2009
Lesley
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Learning about the little island from the island's perspective is a different approach here. The descriptions of plant and animal life through the seasons (and a storm--my favorite illustration in the book) are simple for young children to understand.
Dec 09, 2011
Paula
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Depicts the changes that occur on a small island as the seasons come and go, as day changes to night, and as a storm approaches. Then one day a kitten visits the little island and learns a secret that every child will enjoy.
Feb 05, 2012
Lisa
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A sweet nature story about a little island in the sea, and all the things that happen to it through the seasons, including the special visitors and animals that grace its shores at different times. I liked it.
Dec 21, 2010
Satia
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Started off well but lost me in the middle. For more and for suggestions for further exploration:
http://satia.blogspot.com/2010/12/five-m...
http://satia.blogspot.com/2010/12/five-m...
