Hamanaka (All the Colors of the Earth) is in high form with another stirring ode to the beauty of the richly multiethnic world we inhabit. In melodic verse, the girl with green eyes, light brown skin and long black hair pictured in the opening illustrations tells the stories of her parents and grandparents—what they look like and where they came from. "And her mother came/ eyes of black, eyes of black/ on an Appaloosa horse/ with a broad, strong back/ .../ She married a man/ eyes of green, eyes of green/ who had left his own pony/ 'cross the cold northern sea." Bas relief, horse hair and beadwork number among the materials used for the frames (created by additional artists) that border Hamanaka's illustrations; these meticulous works of art are intrinsic to the presentation of each painting. For instance, red cloth decorated with a beaded floral pattern on top and bottom, with brown and blond horsetails on each side, surrounds the painting of the young Native American woman riding her horse. A three-masted schooner sails across a spread between two beautifully carved wooden figures, accompanying the text, "Grandfather's people/ had crossed the great sea/ Their bodies were chained/ but their souls fought free." The overall message of this subtle yet dramatically realized poem is that love, for others and self, triumphs over adversity. All ages. (Apr.)
