As Big as the Sky

by Carolyn Rose, Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator)

Overview

What happens when a brother and sister who share a love as big as the sky must separate? This heartwarming story set in an African village shows that with a little generosity, there’s always a way to come together. 
 
In a small African village in Malawi, Prisca and her brother Caleb work together and play together, chasing each other as fast as they can. But when Caleb has to leave home to attend a good school, Prisca misses him terribly. Hoping to earn enough money to visit him, Prisca begs a local peddler to sell her crafts—but no one buys what she’s made. However, thanks to Prisca’s kindness and compassion, her dreams of reuniting with Caleb just may come true.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781454923572
Publisher:	Union Square Kids
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	478,887
Product dimensions:	8.70(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	600L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 18 Years

About the Author

Carolyn Rose spent many years teaching, reading, and enjoying children’s books with her students. She and her husband, Bob, have volunteered in the Middle East, Central America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, enjoying the cultures and the people they meet. The story of As Big as the Sky sprang from a trip to Malawi with Marion Medical Mission. Carolyn and Bob live in Golden, CO. Follow her travels on Adventurerose.com.
 
Elizabeth Zunon was born in Albany, NY, and grew up in the Ivory Coast, West Africa. As a little girl, she loved to draw, paint, make up dances, and play dress-up; as she grew up, she didn't really change! Elizabeth now lives in Albany, where she draws, paints, silk-screens, sews, daydreams, and makes beaded jewelry. Her work is largely influenced by the people, places, and things from her childhood in the Ivory Coast.

Editorial Reviews

An homage to the resourcefulness of children, whose ingenuity is their wealth. Caleb and his younger sister, Prisca, are inseparable. When Caleb comes down with malaria, Prisca brings him tea and nsima, a Malawian cornmeal dish. When Prisca can't carry the bucket on her head during chores, Caleb helps. So when Caleb leaves the village for school in Chimwe, Prisca misses him so much that she seeks help from the peddler Tewa Tewa. She makes painted rocks, paper-bead necklaces, and corn-husk dolls to earn travel money, but Tewa Tewa's customers don't buy them. Still, Prisca always welcomes the peddler warmly. When he visits with his newly repaired bike, he agrees to take Prisca and her mother to Chimwe. Based on a family Rose met on a medical mission, this quiet tale emphasizes the sacrifices families often make to educate their children. Zunon's full-bleed illustrations . . . give readers a sense of village life in Malawi and effectively show that familial love is not contingent upon material possessions. The book's final image, of Caleb reading to Prisca, also highlights the gift older siblings give younger siblings when they share their love of literacy. An author's note closes with URLs for organizations that fund girls' education in developing countries. A worthwhile read. (maps, glossary)” —Kirkus

From the Publisher

02/01/2020

K-Gr 3—Prisca and her older brother Caleb love to play together. Living in a small, rural village in Malawi, their lives are not easy, yet every day the siblings help one another, for "their love was as big as the sky." When Caleb is sent to live with his grandmother to attend a better school, the siblings tearfully promise to remember one another. From then on, Prisca attempts to make enough money to visit Caleb. In the end, it is not Prisca's wealth, but her kindness, that makes the reunion possible. Most suitable for an elementary classroom read-aloud due to its lengthy narrative, this story about sibling love has a simple plot, filled with culturally specific details. However, readers may wonder why Prisca didn't see the solution sooner or why her solution is only a short-term fix. Although kindness is an admirable trait, there's an element of disempowerment in the way it is used as a plot device. Mixed-media illustrations combine collage elements and painterly brushstrokes to create compositions that depict the action of the narrative, but they lack emotional and dimensional depth. A glossary and pronunciation guide for Chichewa words used in the story are included, along with an author's note about the Malawian family that inspired this story. Front endpapers feature two maps: the continent of Africa and a close-up of Malawi and surrounding countries, though neither map provides specific information about the locations mentioned in the text. VERDICT Although this title highlights a lesser-known region and culture, it lacks an insider's perspective and relies on inspirational tropes.—Amy Seto Forrester, Denver Public Library

School Library Journal

2019-11-05
An homage to the resourcefulness of children, whose ingenuity is their wealth.

Caleb and his younger sister, Prisca, are inseparable. When Caleb comes down with malaria, Prisca brings him tea and nsima, a Malawian cornmeal dish. When Prisca can't carry the bucket on her head during chores, Caleb helps. So when Caleb leaves the village for school in Chimwe, Prisca misses him so much that she seeks help from the peddler Tewa Tewa. She makes painted rocks, paper-bead necklaces, and corn-husk dolls to earn travel money, but Tewa Tewa's customers don't buy them. Still, Prisca always welcomes the peddler warmly. When he visits with his newly repaired bike, he agrees to take Prisca and her mother to Chimwe. Based on a family Rose met on a medical mission, this quiet tale emphasizes the sacrifices families often make to educate their children. Zunon's full-bleed illustrations are a bit stilted, but they give readers a sense of village life in Malawi and effectively show that familial love is not contingent upon material possessions. The book's final image, of Caleb reading to Prisca, also highlights the gift older siblings give younger siblings when they share their love of literacy. An author's note closes with URLs for organizations that fund girls' education in developing countries.

A worthwhile read. (maps, glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews