Bright Eyes, Brown Skin

Igus's comfortable story unwinds through a gentle and credible conversation between an African American boy and his grandfather. On his annual summer visit to the country, Noel engages in his favorite activity: fishing off a small pier. The child listens intently as his grandfather reminisces about his boyhood swims in the river, when he and his friends swung into the water from a rope attached to a large tree. This memory evokes others, and grandfather enumerates the many differences of that simpler era, when his family lived without a refrigerator, TV, telephone, indoor toilet or car. As the elder recalls the past, Bond's strikingly naturalistic, richly hued paintings give way to black-and-white drawings that effectively evoke the lifestyle of the period. At last, Noel experiences the excitement of catching his first fish, and as his grandfather remembers the thrill of his first catch, he concludes that ``it's good to see that the important things are still the same.'' Ages 6-9. (Dec.)