From School Library Journal
Grade 3 Up-This text, originally written for a millennium celebration oratorio by Derek Holman in Toronto, has been transformed into a picture book. Krykorka's glorious impressionistic paintings accompany the verses but this title ultimately fails as a children's book. Page's inspiration was William Blake's "To see a World in a Grain of Sand,/And a Heaven in a Wild Flower-." and her words might work well with accompanying music but lines like "With a wink or a blink an Age is done./Old Father Time is a boy again" seem somehow too sophisticated for the "Age of Innocence." A better Blake-based book for children remains Nancy Willard's A Visit to William Blake's Inn (Harcourt, 1981).Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, MECopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Gr. 2-4. According to recent scholarship, Marietta, the daughter of Renaissance painter Tintoretto, herself an accomplished portraitist trained by her father, was responsible for works earlier art historians had attributed to him. This bit of history provides the basis for a story about Marietta as a child, which uses straightforward text and beautifully detailed paintings to speculate about her life in sixteenth-century Venice: dressing as a boy, finding friendship with a sea captain's slave, exchanging artistic opinions and art supplies with him, and growing to maturity with the belief that she helped the young man escape his master. Without anachronistic criticism, Trottier provides enough information about social mores and politics of the period to explain both Marietta's need to be discreet and the slave boy's circumstances, and East's paintings are luminous; they are particularly fine in their depiction of architectural and symbolic details. Francisca Goldsmith
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ANNOTATION

This ode to a child's imagination is inspired by William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence.."

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Naomi Butler

Through poetry and art, the author and illustrator enter the magical, mystical world of a child's imagination. The poem was originally written at the request of composer Derek Holman and first performed in Toronto by the Toronto Children's Chorus, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in the celebration of the millennium. P. K. Page is one of Canada's best-known and honored poets. Vladyana Krykordka has illustrated picture books for children and has won numerous awards. The artwork is outstanding and since there is little text on each page, the reader can spend lots of time looking at it. The poem is actually short but each line pulls in the beauty of the illustrated page. Each word is used to its fullest meaning. The William Blake poem in the beginning sets the mood for a wonderful book experience. The book format is lovely￯﾿ﾽfrom the cloth cover to the beautiful illustrations to the print fonts. Altogether, they make a beautiful book for all ages. It will be a wonderful gift item and a treasured part of a personal collection. I believe that it may not be a first choice for libraries because of its cost and the limited number of poems, but I would purchase it for the poetry section and also pull it when using fine art materials. 2003, Fitzhenry & Whiteside,

School Library Journal

Gr 3 Up-This text, originally written for a millennium celebration oratorio by Derek Holman in Toronto, has been transformed into a picture book. Krykorka's glorious impressionistic paintings accompany the verses but this title ultimately fails as a children's book. Page's inspiration was William Blake's "To see a World in a Grain of Sand,/And a Heaven in a Wild Flower-." and her words might work well with accompanying music but lines like "With a wink or a blink an Age is done./Old Father Time is a boy again" seem somehow too sophisticated for the "Age of Innocence." A better Blake-based book for children remains Nancy Willard's A Visit to William Blake's Inn (Harcourt, 1981).-Kathleen Whalin, York Public Library, ME Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews