Paddle-to-the-Sea
Story and Pictures by Holling Clancy Holling
Holling Clancy Holling “was best known for his geo-historical-fiction volumes for children, believed that children’s literature should be both entertaining and instructive and therefore filled his adventuresome tales with well-researched historical and scientific data.” Who was this writer, artist and naturalist who remains popular sixty years after his books were published? Holling Clancy Holling was a giant of children’s literature who will long be remembered by children of ALL ages.
http://hollingcholling.blogspot.com/
Book Summary (from Wikipedia)
At Lake Nipigon, Canada, a native boy carves a wooden model of an Indian in a canoe and sets it free to travel the Great Lakes to the Atlantic ocean. The story follows the progress of the little wooden Indian on its journey through all five Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, finally arriving at the Atlantic Ocean.Each movement of the canoe is celebrated by a short chapter, suitable for reading aloud to a child and decorated with black-and-white sketches and at least one full-page watercolor. The sketches accompany the larger story and tell smaller narrative stories of their own: for example, one sketch demonstrates how a sawmill works by visually outlining the progress of a log of timber towards a mechanical saw.
Illustrations: The illustrations in this book are in black and white on the left hand side and color on the right hand side. The black and white illustrations are snippets from the story. They are very detailed and provided the text with much support. There are often three or so snippets around the text. Each one is as important as the others. The Right hand side is full page in color. ALL illustrations are detailed! Very detailed. I wonder how long it took the illustrator to complete all the needed art work for this book. The thought and accuracy on each page is outstanding.
Just a note: that this same author/illustrator also was awarded the Newberry Award for two of his books! The text in the book is lengthy and as detailed as the pictures. Each page of text is a single chapter in the story, there are a total of 27 chapters. This one took me a few times to read the entire thing. Of course after you read the text you begin to understand the importance of the illustrations. What a great compliment to each other!
Art Medium: Couldn’t find anything that would confirm my suspensions but I think the illustrations are done in ink and paint.
Final Thoughts:1. Would this be a book I would pick up again? If I were to travel to Ontario or around the Great Lakes yes!
2. Would I recommend it to others to search out and take a look at? Yes
3. Would I spend my hard earned money on the book? Maybe for the right reason
4. Where did I get the book? Pierce County Library
More info:
The film Paddle to the Sea, based on this book, was produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 1966, directed by Bill Mason. It was nominated for an Oscar.
Traveling to Ontario anytime soon? Then you may want to visit this park Nipigon, Ontario.
The award winning book "Paddle-to-the-Sea" was written in 1941 by Holling C. Holling who visited Nipigon before putting ink to the page. In the story, a young Indian boy who dreams of visiting the ocean carves a wooden canoe, or ‘paddle-person’, who travels the Great Lakes and reaches the sea in his stead. The park has been built in our small town because the famous story of Paddle-to-the-Sea starts on the Nipigon River.
The story inspired Canadian canoeist and film maker Bill Mason to create the celebrated National Film Board film of the same name.
Is Ontario a bit far? Well another reason to visit the University of Oregon!
Guide to the Holling Clancy Holling Papers
1955-1956
1955-1956
Creator: | Holling, Holling Clancy |
Title: | Holling Clancy Holling Papers |
Dates: | 1955-1956 ( inclusive ) |
Quantity: | .5 linear feet (1 container) |
Collection Number: | Ax 304 |
Summary: | H.C. Holling (1900-1973) was an author and illustrator born in Henrietta, Michigan and educated at the Chicago Art Institute. The collection consists of manuscripts, correspondence, and publicity material. A majority of the collection constitutes the manuscripts of Pagoo. |
Repository: | University of Oregon Libraries Special Collections & University Archives |
Languages: | Collection materials are in English. |
Sponsor: | Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. |
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