Saturday, May 26, 2012

RTL: Dig Hole, Soft Mole

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Book Title: Dig Hole, Soft Mole
Author: Carolyn Lesser
Islamically Appropriate?: Yes
Genre: Fiction
Book Format: Picture Book
Age Group: 4 years and older
Book Review: Children explore the world of the star-nosed mole in Dig Hole, Soft Mole. They travel with a little mole through the woods, underground, through a tunnel and finally out into a sparkling pond. The illustrations are soft and warm and very inviting and the text only contains one word that would need substitution: ghostly.

From Publishers Weekly: Dense, tactile rhyming couplets and serene paintings transport readers through the twin worlds of the star-nosed mole, which flourishes in water as well as in ground. While Mole may travel nearly blind, readers' eyes will feast on Regan's softly textured, pristinely composed oil and gouache illustrations. Mole visits, variously, a lumpy, purplish-brown tunnel, where spooky bulb roots drape the ceilings ("Starry nose feels and goes./ Hidden ears hear wood frog toes"); murky-blue water, where snails sway on leafy pondweed ("Pulling feet, sculling tail,/ Furry boat without a sail"); daylit marsh with "twiggy domes" and cattails, muskrats and blackbirds; and indigo night, where white water lilies shine and a "ghostly swan" drifts. (Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.).

Until the next read insha'Allaah....