cover image School of Names

School of Names

M. B. Goffstein. HarperCollins Publishers, $12.95 (16pp) ISBN 978-0-06-021984-0

In Goffstein's latest, we recognize the theme central to her unique creations. Speaking always of what she loves, she turns our thoughts to what is dear to us. Here the colors in small, delicate paintings are muted but seem lit with an inner glow. The illustrations and text again reveal Goffstein's gift for confining a world of meaning in the fewest figures and words. With utmost simplicity, she expresses her yearning to know by name the intricate wonders on this planet. What is each called: star, sky, desert, rock, cloud, person, tree, animal, every single part of the symbiotic mystery? As the author writes, ""For all the years I may live, no place but the earth is my home.'' She gives us in her beautiful book a reminder that we must exist harmoniously with nature in the place that is the only home for all of us. (All ages)