Do You Know What I'll Do

(Hardback)

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Description

One day a little girl said to her little brother...Do you know what I'll do at the seashore I'll bring you a shell to hold the sound of the sea. In this celebration of a sister's special love for her brother, a little girl imagines all the ways she will make him happy. Charlotte Zolotow perfectly captures the perspective of a young child. while Javaka Steptoe offers a stunning interpretation of her words with his bold artwork, illuminating Zolotow's universal voice for a new generation of children.

Reviews

"One day a little girl said to her little brother...Do you know what I'll do when the flowers grow again I'll pick you a bunch and you'll be happy.' So begins this lyric narrative, as a child describes her love her brother by listing all the things she will do for him. Zolotow's text, originally illustrated by Garth Williams (HarperCollins, 1958), zeros in on that special kind of tenderness between siblings. Steptoe's mixed-media collages, made mostly from wood and paint, have a three-dimensional quality and project the emotion of the text. The artist gets precise detail with broad strokes, and his vibrant compositions leap from and move across the stark white spreads. The layout is simple but effective...The text is only slightly revised, replacing "movie" with "movies, " and rephrasing the final question from Do you know what I'll do when I grow up and am married' to ...when I grow up and have a baby' The answer to both is, I'll bring you my baby to hug. Like this.' Steptoe's artwork is decidedly modern, yet timeless in its depiction of an African-American family. It is familiar, yet fresh, just as Zolotow's voice was to the children's book scene over 50 years ago, and continues to be today."--"School Library Journal ""There's a lot to look at and young readers and listeners will find themselves wrapped in the same warm intimacy." --"Booklist" (Starred Review)"Steptoe's bold mixed-media collages invigorate Zolotow's tender 1958 tale of a girl's affection for her brother... poetic images...playfulness and humor."--"Publishers Weekly" (Starred Review)

Author Bio

Charlotte Zolotow has written over seventy books for young children, many of which - Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, and William's Doll, illustrated by William Pene du Bois, for example - have become picture-book classics. Javaka Steptoe's first picture book, In Daddy's Arms I Am Tail, won the 1998 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award. Mr. Steptoe lives in Brooklyn. NY.