The Divide

by Michael Bedard, Emily Arnold McCully (Illustrator)

When Willa Cather was a girl, her family moved west to the open prairie of Nebraska, leaving behind a world Willa loved dearly. Gone were the wooded hills and the meadows marbled with sheep. In their place was a flat, empty land, as bare as a strip of sheet iron. Willa felt she had come to the end of things; she felt the land did not want them.

But then spring came, and the silent land stirred to life. Summer followed, long and hot, and Willa roamed free over the open fields on her pony. Slowly she began to explore the hidden delights of this strange new countryside, and to make friends with her fellow settlers on the Divide. By the time autumn came, with its splendid sunlit colors, Willa understood that what she had thought was an ending was really a new beginning.

Michael Bedard and Emily Arnold McCully evoke the spirit of the American West in this lyrical story with delicate, richly hued illustrations. They celebrate, as Willa Cather did in her novels, the wild beauty of the vast prairie she came to love and the sturdy spirit of the pioneers who made it their home.

Genres: Picture Books, Biography

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Michael Bedard was born and raised in Toronto. His novels include Stained Glass, A Darker Magic, Painted Devil, and Redwork, which received the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year Award for Children. He has also written several acclaimed picture books, including The Clay Ladies, which received the Toronto IODE Book Award. His biography, William Blake: The Gates of Paradise and his picture book Emily attest to his interest in poets and poetry.

Reviews

[The Hofs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oftentimes, I select library books because of their artwork. This was the case with this book. When an older sibling read to the littler ones, she loved it enough to pick up "My Antonia" and tell me about it. Gorgeous illustrations and delightful glimpse into a stint of local author, Willa Cather's childhood.

[Amy Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful pictures and description of the prairie where Willa Catha lived as a child

[Ellie Dynek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having lived in Nebraska for most of my life, I can appreciate how much detail and description Michael Bedard used to illustrate Willa Cather's early years in the Nebraska prairie

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt drawn into a different time and place!

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Timely since I read one of her books a couple of weeks ago.
Story of part of Willa Cather's girlhood.

[Etta Mcquade · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are nice, showing the vast prairie and the growing awareness of the young Willa Cather, but the ending seemed abrupt in its attempt to note Willa's "song waiting to be sung."