From Publishers Weekly
In Lucht's (In This Night...) dramatic nature study, a common roadside flower bursts from the page in luminous color. Each acrylic painting is drenched with texture: the familiar drooping pod that explodes into silklike scarlet; the mysterious, furry pistil whose pollen attracts insects; the swelling case that produces new seeds. Among the poppies live various birds, animals, insects and other plants indigenous to the author's native Germany. Attractive, illustrated endnotes highlight each species, most of which will be familiar to North American readers. In an unusually interesting author's note, Lucht explains that she has aimed to imitate the three-dimensional immediacy and exaggerated detail afforded by viewing plants and flowers through a stereoscope. Her arresting illustrations deserve a more stylish partner than the less skillful, wordy text. Awkward shifts in tense raise doubts about the fidelity of the translation, while delayed explanations can be jarring. Still, this handsome book makes "seeing red" a pleasant surprise in any season. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 2 Up?A breathtaking book that moves slowly from scenic roadside panoramas to exquisite microscopic details of a single red poppy and back again in an elegant visual flow. The translation of Lucht's prose is equally elegant?scientifically accurate, rhythmic, evocative. The book design is flawless from its deep green endpapers to its vibrant double-page spreads, with obvious attention to each detail?inviting print size and prose presentation, page design, book size (large), and the inclusion of illustrated "End Notes" that give additional information. In the "Author's Note," readers will learn much from Lucht's explanation of her use of the stereoscope in studying and painting the poppy, which allowed her to see in three dimensions. Children will return to The Red Poppy often, scanning its pages for undiscovered details?a butterfly caught in a spider's web, a mole eating a cricket, the subtle passing of the season. With each revisit, they will find more than just the simple presentation of the life cycle of a flower. This is a book that can inspire readers to slow down and look, not just at its pages, but at the ordinary world just outside their doors. It belongs not just in libraries but also in science, writing, and art classrooms.?Lee Bock, Brown County Public Libraries, Green Bay, WI
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ages 5^-8. Translated from the German, this striking large-format picture book begins by describing a field of rye in summer, but a particular poppy growing at the edge of the field soon becomes the focus. The poppy bud droops, then stands upright and casts off its sepal as the petals unfold. During its one day in the sun, the flower is visited by a variety of insects bringing pollen from the stamens of other poppies to its pistil. The petals fall, days pass, and poppy seeds form and fall to the ground, ready to grow next summer. Colorful and detailed, the acrylic paintings offer clear and sometimes greatly enlarged views of the poppy and its visitors. Endnotes, which offer close-ups from the highly detailed artwork, expand the text, as does the intriguing illustrated author's note. A useful, often beautiful interpretation of a topic frequently studied in elementary classrooms. Carolyn Phelan
