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The Tale I Told Sasha
When a yellow ball goes rolling away from its owner, it travels to a fantastic world where all lost things find a home, in a boldly illustrated book for young readers.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published April 8, 1999
2 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Nancy Willard
99 books42 followersNANCY WILLARD was an award-winning children's author, poet, and essayist who received the Newbery Medal in 1982 for A Visit to William Blake's Inn. She wrote dozens of volumes of children's fiction and poetry, including The Flying Bed, Sweep Dreams, and Cinderella's Dress. She also authored two novels for adults, Things Invisible to See and Sister Water, and twelve books of poetry, including Swimming Lessons: New and Selected Poems. She lived with her husband, photographer Eric Lindbloom, and taught at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 4, 2022
This is a fantastical journey through a world of imagination and wonder. The narrative is lyrical and rhyming and the illustrations are a soft blur of a fantasy world. I'm not sure if our girls would like this book as much as I did, but this short story is an interesting escape for a few moments.
August 2022 update: I discovered this book in a local thrift store and was mesmerized once again. I loved it and really relished the details in the illustrations and the whimsy of the verse. I bumped up my rating from 3-stars to 4-stars because I like it so much. I will admit, however, that it still won't likely appeal to children as much.
August 2022 update: I discovered this book in a local thrift store and was mesmerized once again. I loved it and really relished the details in the illustrations and the whimsy of the verse. I bumped up my rating from 3-stars to 4-stars because I like it so much. I will admit, however, that it still won't likely appeal to children as much.
March 5, 2017
This book has excellent cadence; the story is hard to follow but the poetry is magical. It was hard for my 6 year old to understand but I got it. it's almost a poem with pictures, meant for a more mature audience, but stuck in a children's book.
October 22, 2009
Recommended for Ages 9-14
From Booklist
Sasha's mom--with a gnome resting comfortably in her overalls pocket and her long hair pinned up by a pen and brush--gives Sasha a yellow ball on a wet, dull day. It bounces through the door in the mantel clock's shadow and over a bridge of butterflies, and Sasha follows. There, dreamlike images abound: Sasha finds a farmer had planted her ball in hopes that it might grow "flowers gold as finch's wings . . . a golden hen . . . and starlight-covered jelly beans." In this mysterious realm, Sasha finds all manner of hidden "things worn or wished on, old or lost." The farmer, who is the King of Keys, eventually gives her back her yellow ball, and she finds herself back in her own living room. Her house may be "small and plain," but a hundred pencils writing on sheets of gold could not hold "the strange adventures / shadows hide." The watercolor and pastel illustrations are spun of the same ineffably charming stuff as those Christiana did for his White Nineteens (1992); Willard's verse seems hewn out of the very rock of imagination. The whole glistens with silken enchantment, like Berlie Doherty's The Midnight Man (, Jennifer Armstrong's Pockets (1998), and Brown's Mad Summer Night's Dream, which is also reviewed in this issue. The pages draw the attention again and again, as connections between the poem and the pictures insinuate themselves and the perspectives shimmer and re-form. Even the title page offers magic, as a die-cut circle shows Sasha peering through on one side, and the golden endpapers, the color of the yellow ball, on the other. GraceAnne A. DeCandido
This book was one that I had to read about 4 times and have a friend read for me to start to understand what it was about. It is a fantasy picture book about a girls yellow ball that brings her in to these magical worlds. To be honest, I kept thinking to myself, is this author on drugs? What is happening here?!? To me, it was too out there. That is why I would recommend this book, if at all, to older kids, because maybe they would be able to make sense of it. Maybe they could also make sense of the title, which is not referenced at all throughout the book. Confused...
From Booklist
Sasha's mom--with a gnome resting comfortably in her overalls pocket and her long hair pinned up by a pen and brush--gives Sasha a yellow ball on a wet, dull day. It bounces through the door in the mantel clock's shadow and over a bridge of butterflies, and Sasha follows. There, dreamlike images abound: Sasha finds a farmer had planted her ball in hopes that it might grow "flowers gold as finch's wings . . . a golden hen . . . and starlight-covered jelly beans." In this mysterious realm, Sasha finds all manner of hidden "things worn or wished on, old or lost." The farmer, who is the King of Keys, eventually gives her back her yellow ball, and she finds herself back in her own living room. Her house may be "small and plain," but a hundred pencils writing on sheets of gold could not hold "the strange adventures / shadows hide." The watercolor and pastel illustrations are spun of the same ineffably charming stuff as those Christiana did for his White Nineteens (1992); Willard's verse seems hewn out of the very rock of imagination. The whole glistens with silken enchantment, like Berlie Doherty's The Midnight Man (, Jennifer Armstrong's Pockets (1998), and Brown's Mad Summer Night's Dream, which is also reviewed in this issue. The pages draw the attention again and again, as connections between the poem and the pictures insinuate themselves and the perspectives shimmer and re-form. Even the title page offers magic, as a die-cut circle shows Sasha peering through on one side, and the golden endpapers, the color of the yellow ball, on the other. GraceAnne A. DeCandido
This book was one that I had to read about 4 times and have a friend read for me to start to understand what it was about. It is a fantasy picture book about a girls yellow ball that brings her in to these magical worlds. To be honest, I kept thinking to myself, is this author on drugs? What is happening here?!? To me, it was too out there. That is why I would recommend this book, if at all, to older kids, because maybe they would be able to make sense of it. Maybe they could also make sense of the title, which is not referenced at all throughout the book. Confused...
December 7, 2012
A story about a young girl who goes on a imaginative adventure with her bright yellow ball on a rainy day. This is a beautifully illustrated book and I would use this as a read aloud in my classroom.
June 27, 2014
I checked this book out for my daughter but it became one of my favorites. I love the verse and the captivating illustrations. This book allows me to lose myself in the world of fantasy and make-believe.
January 15, 2009
My all time favorite illustrator and the story is pretty good 2
September 14, 2019
4 1/4 stars
June 2, 2009
Excellent watercolor illustrations, and imaginative verse. I didn't think my three year old would like it, but its one of her favorites.
June 17, 2012
incredibly gorgeous art. v. nice story
December 7, 2012
This book of poetry was really hard for me to understand. I had to read it a couple of times in order to fully comprehend it.
October 28, 2016
A beautiful and mysterious book with surrealistic illustrations. A girl loses a ball and discovers worlds of surreal things while she searches for it. Not super concrete plot, due to illustrations.
August 5, 2007
I'm in it for the picture on this one. Watercolour-amazing.
September 1, 2011
Felt like it was trying waaaay to hard to be mystical and endearing.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews