Books by Nancy Willard and Complete Book Reviews

Nancy Willard, Author Alfred A. Knopf $21 (255p) ISBN 978-0-679-40702-7
Essayist ( Angel in the Parlor ), children's author ( A Visit to William Blake's Inn ) and novelist ( Things Invisible to See ) Willard's gift for seamlessly mixing the magical and the mundane puts her in the company of Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman.
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Nancy Willard, Author . Knopf $23 (72p) ISBN 978-1-4000-4229-6
"When I was a bird, the wind carried me,/ and when I died, somebody said goodbye." Willard's tender, careful 10th volume of verse for adults is her first since the 1996 new-and-selected Swimming Lessons , and it returns to the gardens,...
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Nancy Willard, Author Harcourt Children's Books $16 (48p) ISBN 978-0-15-201428-5
Marching determinedly to her own drummer, Willard (A Visit to William Blake's Inn; The Good-Night Blessing Book) once again emerges with an unconventional picture book. Pairing carefully crafted photographs with fictitious postcards (replete with...
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Nancy Willard, Author Alfred A. Knopf $25 (0p) ISBN 978-0-679-44639-2
Drawing from 10 previous collections (excepting A Visit to William Blake's Inn) and adding 30 new poems, Willard focuses closely on the things of the world around her. While mundane interests often yield mundane poems (""The Patience of Bathtubs""...
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Nancy Willard, Author Scholastic $15.95 (1p) ISBN 978-0-590-62393-3
Much in the same vein as her recent An Alphabet of Angels, Willard's latest combines verse with photographs of carefully composed tableaux. As before, angels take center stage, this time to honor the sacred in the everyday. The verse flows in strong
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Nancy Willard, Author Mariner Books $12.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-15-693130-4
Willard ( Things Invisible to See ) offers here a collection of essays about writing. She describes her life as an author of both adult and children's literature by referring to parables and tales, as in an essay in which she describes how Adam and...
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Nancy Willard, Author Scholastic $16.95 (1p) ISBN 978-0-590-48480-0
Willard's (A Visit to William Blake's Inn) lifelong fancy for angels results in this intriguing though often puzzling abecedary. Featuring a heavenly host of photographs (Willard not only penned the text but also proves an accomplished photo-stylist)
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Nancy Willard, Author, Leo Dillon, Editor, Diane Dillon, Illustrator Scholastic $16.95 (1p) ISBN 978-0-590-47329-3
This sophisticated collaboration from the creators of Pish, Posh Said Hieronymus Bosch reinvents a magical tale that is perhaps best known to young readers from Walt Disney's Fantasia. Willard's vivid rhyming text conjures up a fantasy world ruled...
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Nancy Willard, Author, David Wiesner, Photographer Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers $11.95 (120p) ISBN 978-0-394-89008-1
Molly believes that her summer vacation is ruined when her parents send her off to New York City to stay with her aging grandmother. A new friend, Sean, eases her way, as does an old man named Eugene who frequently visits her grandmother's shop of...
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Nancy Willard, illus. by Jeff Newman. Candlewick, $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-7774-9
The late Willard’s powers of observation make this story a delight. She starts at the crack of dawn, when James approaches his parents’ bed to ask for his allowance. “What can you do with five quarters at six in the morning?” his mother asks. “I can
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Nancy Willard, Author, Leo Dillon, Illustrator, Diane Dillon, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $22 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-262210-7
The fascination of Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516) with bizarre imaginary beings is the springboard for a chimerical vision--elegantly realized in this resplendent work. In Willard's playful poem, the artist's housekeeper is vexed to...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Tomie dePaola, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P $12.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-256010-2
Willard's latest creation features a bespectacled grandmother, a mischievous magpie and four magicians representing the mountains of Sandusky, Elyria, Cleveland and Detroit. The grandmother has nearly completed a quilt ""red as embers, green as...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Martin Provensen, Illustrator, Alice Provensen, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) $4.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-200119-3
The award-winning author and artists humorously depict Robert Louis Stevenson's voyage to America on a cargo-carrying steamer. Ages 4-10. (Oct.)
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Nancy Willard, Author, Martin Provensen, Illustrator, Alice Provensen, Illustrator Voyager Paperbacks $7 (44p) ISBN 978-0-15-293823-9
The Newbery Medal-winning, Caldecott Honor book about an imaginary inn belonging to William Blake, where remarkable guests are attended by an even more remarkable staff. Ages 4-8. (September)
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Nancy Willard, Author, Martin Provensen, Illustrator, Alice Provensen, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $14.95 (96p) ISBN 978-0-15-294464-3
In August 1887, Robert Louis Stevenson set sail for America. But rather than sail on a great Birmingham liner, he booked passage on the Ludgate Hill, a cargo-carrying steamer. Although the crossing was rough, the weather beastly and the discomforts...
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Nancy Willard, Author, David Diaz, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $17 (40p) ISBN 978-0-15-201638-8
Willard (The Tortilla Cat) brings her considerable storytelling powers to this enchanting tale of a girl with the wit and ingenuity to outfox a formidable opponent. Holly Go Lolly, thanks to a blessing from a fairy godmother, grows up unafraid of...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Barry Moser, Illustrator Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers $13.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-394-88414-1
This glorious collection of poems, songs, limericks and ballads celebrates the memory of Biddy Early, a 19th-century Irish peasant woman blessed with the power of healing. In a mere 15 selections, Willard's words weave an indelible portrait any...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Barry Moser, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $14.95 (64p) ISBN 978-0-15-224750-8
In the form of a play, Willard retells the Norwegian folktale with verve, relying entirely on witty dialogue and pared-down stage directions to conjure up the world of the Troll King and his captives. Karen is the youngest daughter of a poor...
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Nancy Willard, illus. by Kevin Hawkes. Candlewick, $16.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-7636-5476-4
Little Tom Drum’s mother scolds him the night before his birthday party when he begs for another slice of strawberry pie: “Have you three mouths?” When he sneaks downstairs for more and gets caught, two more mouths appear on his face. He can’t go...
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Nancy Willard, Author, David M. McPhail, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P $4.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-15-257430-7
Dusky watercolors depict Willard's fanciful tale about the moon, who desires a flannel nightgown just like the one hanging on a clothesline far, far below. Ages 4-8. (September)
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Nancy Willard, Author, Jenny Mattheson, Illustrator , illus. by Jenny Mattheson. Little, Brown $14.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-316-94006-1
This frilly offering from the author of such full-scale picture-book fantasies as The Tale I Told Sasha uses the structure of The House That Jack Built to relate a Gingerbread Man–style plot. The opening is just comic enough to tip the...
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Nancy Willard, Author, John Thompson, Illustrator , illus. by John Thompson. Scholastic/Blue Sky $16.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-590-25610-0
Willard's (A Visit to William Blake's Inn ) enchanting fairy tale takes place in Thompson's (Christmas in the Big House ) gloriously rendered Florence. Guido lacks the skill to be a great baker like his father: "Guido's icings...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Corona Machemer, Editor Alfred A. Knopf $9.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-679-72171-0
Willard's ( In His Country ) ninth collection stints on serious or complex subjects in favor of frequently dazzling verbal pyrotechnics. The poems proceed through careful scrutiny: one pays homage to a newt; another seeks theology in a hardware...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Richard Jesse Watson, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P $15.95 (63p) ISBN 978-0-15-234332-3
When a girl asks her mother what she'd like for her birthday, her mother replies that all she wants is a High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cakestet caps , just like the one her grandmother once made for her. Determined to...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Richard Jesse Watson, Illustrator Voyager Paperbacks $9 (64p) ISBN 978-0-15-201019-5
A girl bakes her mother an out-of-this-world birthday cake; ""Willard's prose is both lyrical and conversational, and the story is one of the most human and touching she has written,"" said PW, adding that Watson's illustrations ""add an extra touch
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Nancy Willard, Author, Haig Shekerjian, Illustrator, Regina Shekerjian, Illustrator Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) $3.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-294986-0
When James goes to bed, his blue balloon--previously a model of propriety--displays a horrific hunger, but the resourceful lad scores a witty triumph. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)
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Nancy Willard, Author, Bryan Leister, Illustrator Wild Honey $20 (0p) ISBN 978-0-15-200783-6
In this strangely conceived pop-up fantasy in rhyme, Willard (Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch) imagines Gutenberg with a wife for whom he is determined to create a printed Bible by Christmas. Step by step, he blithely solves his technical problems
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Nancy Willard, Author, Barbara Willard, Author, Tomie dePaola, Illustrator Voyager Paperbacks $6 (32p) ISBN 978-0-15-201480-3
""An imaginative bit of hocus-pocus enlivened by dePaola's whimsical artistry,"" said PW of this story of a quilt-making grandmother, a magpie and four magicians. Ages 4-8. (May)
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Nancy Willard, Author, Jane Dyer, Illustrator Harcourt Children's Books $18 (64p) ISBN 978-0-15-227250-0
Newbery Medalist Willard and Dyer (Animal Crackers) dipped into their respective rural Midwest family histories for this nostalgic, exquisitely designed and compulsively readable picture book. Part family photo album, part farmer's almanac, it's an...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Jane Dyer, Illustrator , illus. by Jane Dyer. Scholastic/Blue Sky $16.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-590-56927-9
Lilting poetry and a couple of warm-hearted magpies add a new dimension to the familiar tale. In a tree outside Cinderella's window, two birds confer about the lonely girl inside, their plan captured in Willard's (A Visit to William Blake'
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This airy but underdone collection has more style than substance. Willard's (The Tale I Told Sasha) prose preface introduces Shoofly Sally and the denizens of the eponymous establishment where "those who aren't eating are cooking. Those...
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Nancy Willard, Author, David Christiana, Author, David Christiana, Illustrator Little Brown and Company $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-316-94115-0
Willards (A Starlit Somersault Downhill) latest relies on the impressionistic beauty of her writing, capturing readers attention with her seductive rhythms and imagery. A girls yellow ball leads her on a chase through an otherworldly place not quite
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Nancy Willard, Author, Jerry Pinkney, Illustrator Little Brown and Company $15.95 (1p) ISBN 978-0-316-94113-6
As autumnal leaves fall from the trees a frolicsome rabbit receives a warning about the hardships of winter: `` `It is not wise,' the brown bear said, / `to ask of snow your daily bread.' '' He invites the rabbit to join him in sleep ``till the...
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Nancy Willard, Author, Jerry Pinkney, Illustrator Little Brown and Company $6.95 (0p) ISBN 978-0-316-94129-7
PW's starred review praised this wintertime tale for its ""sophisticated language"" and ""lavishly detailed, full-spread watercolors [that] bristle with energy."" Ages 6-10. (Sept.)
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