Home Place

On a backpacking trip, a girl and her parents uncover a bit of the past when they chance upon some daffodils--``cups lifted to trumpet / the good news / of spring.'' Nearby they find a chimney buried in honeysuckle, a stone foundation, a glass marble, the arm of a china doll. The girl imagines a black family living there in the past, what they ate, how they talked, the songs they sang. With striking craft, Dragonwagon limns a forgotten family's day-to-day existence. Pinkney's characteristically stunning, limpid watercolors are lush in shades of greens and browns, with touches of vibrant yellow in the flowers. His evocative images present a joyous mealtime, a child carefully ribboning her hair and hardworking Uncle Ferd, ``wiping the sweat from his forehead.'' A nice touch in the book's attractive design is the fact that paintings of the present are full page, while those set in the past are ``distanced'' by their frames. This lovely work closes as the girl reluctantly leaves her imaginings to rejoin her parents in the present. Ages 5-8. (Aug.)