The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Winter, Jeanette

Elsina's Clouds

40 pp. | Farrar/Foster | April, 2004 | Trade ISBN 0-374-32118-3 $$16.00

(2) K-3 A brief author's note explains that the Basotho women in southern Africa paint their houses as a form of prayer to their ancestors for rain. Young Elsina longs to paint pictures on her own house and finally gets her chance when her father adds on another room for an expected baby. The story is elegant in its simplicity, and Winter frames the square pages with geometric folk art-like borders, echoing the designs Elsina paints.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2004