Summer Evening

by Walter de la Mare, Carolina Rabei (Illustrator)

"As a revelation of the wonders of the English language, de la Mare's poems for children are quite unrivaled." - W. H. Auden

Part of a quintet of books revolved around the four seasons, this is a beautifully atmospheric picture book based around de la Mare's eight line poem. In Summer Evening , readers will join a farmer and his family as they enjoy a picnic dinner in the late summer sun. Their pet cat spots a mouse in the field and a chase pursues that includes a dog, a horse, cows, pigs, chickens, and ducks! The sparse text and bright colors give children much to look at and expore, and they will love identifying the different animals in each spread. It concludes with all the animals going to sleep, so also a great bedtime read.

With striking orange and yellow tones throughout, this conjures up perfectly the feeling of a balmy late summer evening.

Genres: Picture Books, Summer, Poetry, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2016

About the author

Walter John de la Mare was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fiction, including "Seaton's Aunt" and "All Hallows". In 1921, his novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, and his post-war Collected Stories for Children won the 1947 Carnegie Medal for British children's books.

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Having just read The Ride-by-Nights illustrated by Carolina Rabei to the words of the poem by Walter de la Mare, which I very much enjoyed this was somewhat disappointing. There are so many wonderful de la Mare poems but this isn't one of his better ones and the illustrations are not as interesting either.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrific picture book addition to the summer reading list.

[Sem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see that I'll have to buy the others in this series.

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently read another book by this author that I really liked so I was excited to find this book. Sadly, I was disappointed. I did not feel the story line was that great and I was not very impressed with the illustrations.

[ErinTheLibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very few words, the illustrations capture the colors of a summer evening. The story is slight but fine for storytime. Good for kids to practice their narrative skills.

[Raven Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

It needed more text. The illustrations are gorgeous, but the lack of text (even if just sprinkled in) would have been perfect.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peaceful. Country. A lovely book.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations were beautiful. But, unfortunately, the text that accompanied them didn't have the oomph needed to cultivate the feeling and essence of a summer evening on the farm.

[Tracie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illustrations and text mesh so well in this quiet look at a summer evening on a farm.

[Monica Lit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the illustrations and colors used in this book.

[Rebecca Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The text is simple and lovely, and the pictures are gorgeous.

[Katrina Clohessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sparse text throughout; some pages are wordless

[Tommo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book leaves lots of room for children to tell the story. I liked this aspect of the book more than the actual story.

[Jordan (jojobooklover) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork in this picture book is beautiful, and tells a complementary story to this delightful poem. Well done!

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are the best part of this book!

[Antonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colorful, yet soothing pictures of an evening on a farm. Would be a lovely book for a pre-reader to return to after an initial reading.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sparse text with beautiful illustrations.