GRACE FOR AN ISLAND MEAL
by Rachel Field & illustrated by Cynthia Jabar
An idyllic day in Maine is the setting for this cheerful interpretation of Newbery Medalist Field’s tribute to island life. The poem uses a dinner blessing as its rhyming structure, including many joys of the natural world and items that might be found on a Maine picnic table. Within her brightly hued paintings, Jabar has created a plausible storyline to accompany the poetic text, following a mother and her two children as they take a day trip to a tiny island off the coast of Maine. There they join their friends in exploring the island and then for an outdoor dinner featuring items previously mentioned in the text: chanterelle mushrooms, blueberries, homemade bread and “tea from islands far away.” Jabar, who like Field has lived on a Maine island, captures the wind-blown, fresh feeling of a sunny summer day with broad expanses of sea, grass and woods. Lovers of island life will find this an irresistible treat. (Poetry/religion. 3-6)