FArTHER Grahame Baker-Smith; Grahame Baker-Smith

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A beautiful exploration into the relationship between a father and son from award winning illustrator Grahame Baker-Smith.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Baker-Smith (Leon and the Place Between) won the 2011 Kate Greenaway Medal for this tale of a father lost and a dream reclaimed. The young narrator remembers a father gripped by the dream of flight, forever making wings and launching himself off the rocks above the sea. He never succeeds, and, though he clearly loves his son, his eyes are always on the sky. "Such a busy, bossy dream," the son recalls, "that would not leave him alone or give him the time to play or sleep or think of other things." Baker-Smith's gilded images of the father's elaborate winged contraptions and placid spreads of sky and clouds offer hope. But the army takes the father away ("I will always remember the day he left-the clothes they gave him, khaki against the scarlet poppies"), and he never returns. Years later, the boy realizes that his father's dream has become his own. As a story with a long horizon and a mysterious loss, it may leave some readers uneasy, but its portrait of the complex, delicately balanced relationship between father and son lingers. Ages 5-7. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-5-The narrator reminisces about his father's dream to make a flying machine. The man works ceaselessly on the project without success, stopping to play with his son only when the longing to "claim the sky" abates periodically. That longing is silenced forever, however, when the father goes off to war and never returns. Years pass, and the son "[takes] up the old wings" left by his father and does succeed, soaring into the "vast blue sky" where he feels his father's presence. Eventually, he shares his dream with his own son. The digitally rendered illustrations offer great variety as they enrich the brief text. There are single pages and spreads, framed half sheets, and snapshotlike vignettes. The lacy filigree and feathers of the father's flying machine seem as elusive as his dream. The family's home stands high on a cliff overlooking the immense sea, and varying shades of blue throughout echo father's and son's longing for the sky. There are sepia tones as well and grays that eventually morph almost to black as father sets off to war. One striking illustration depicts the winged, laurel-wreathed father atop a column ready to soar much like Daedalus of old, a Greek temple in the background. This evocative story will surely elicit discussions about having dreams and the persistence necessary to accomplish difficult goals.-Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Baker-Smith crafts a moving tale of a father whose dream of flying is left unfulfilled when he is called away to war but that passes along to his son, who finally manages to soar. His figures, hovering in that magical middle ground between fantasy and realism, possess idiosyncratic stylistic flourishes that make for instant appeal. Realistically textured and timeless clothing grounds his lushly fantastical environments, giving his images an evocative and even haunting quality. Many children will be visually captivated and want to pass their fingers again and again over the intricate surfaces of the mechanical wings the father invents. Although the story, told with a stilted, dew-eyed earnestness, reaches for a profound metaphor that may tug at the heartstrings of some adult readers, it will likely leave a young readership completely unmoved. As with Sarah L. Thomson and Rob Gonsalves' Imagine a Night (2003), Imagine a Day (2005), and Imagine a Place (2008), this one must stand on the strength of its beautiful and resonant imagery.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist

Horn Book Review

In a nostalgic and fundamentally illogical story, a little boy describes his father, a man who never succeeded in creating a working flying machine. As an adult, the narrator follows his father's dream and also hopes to inspire his own baby son. With little plot and elaborate, surrealistic digital illustrations, the book holds more appeal for sentimental adults than their children. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

A dream of flying is passed down from son to son. A boy lovingly remembers his father and their house on a craggy cliff overlooking the sea, with a pathway of red poppies. In that house, his father worked ceaselessly to fashion a flying machine made of "the feathers of a thousand hopeful wings." Sometimes the dream would fade, and then father and son would take time to play. That dream is never to be realized, as the day comes when the father dons a uniform and leaves for a great war, never to return. Years later, the son, now grown, resumes work on the machine, succeeds and then shares the vision with his own son. The narration unfolds in a series of snapshots, as in an album, with some large and some small, some in monotones and some with splashes of color and golden threads. These digitally rendered illustrations create a surreal and sophisticated landscape that complements the measured cadence of the first-person narration. Perhaps it is an allegory of man's quest to reach the stars or perhaps just a tale of filial devotion. Winner of Great Britain's 2011 Kate Greenaway Medal for distinguished illustration in a book for children. Evocative and moving. (Picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.