Music for Alice by Say, Allen

Title: Music for Alice

Author: Say, Allen

Illustration: Allen Say

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Comments

CIP info A Japanese American farmer recounts her agricultural successes and set backs and her enduring love of dance. Based on the true life story of Alice Sumida, who with her husband Mark established the largest gladiola bulb farm in the country during the last half of the 20^th Century.

A touching story follows Alice from the possibility of an internment camp to her successful gladiola farm and her return to that farm after her husband Mark passes away. Her love of dance gets her through the tough times. She doesn’t actually get to dance, it is just the thought of it that keeps her going. The illustrations are fabulous. I love them. The reader gets to see the most beautiful aerial shot of the gladiola farm. You can almost smell them they look so pretty. As always Say can work wonders with watercolors. He can tell a story with illustrations alone. Here his traditional format of having text at the bottom serves him well. Text is easy to read, but you can also just enjoy some great artwork.