Author/Illustrator Karen Patkau • Poet Patricia Sillers
Oxford University Press 1987
Ages 3-8
Karen Patkau’s vivid collage illustrations encourage budding naturalists to find the many creatures – bugs, birds and beasts – that share Ringtail’s ravine home. The wealth of visual details and comic adventures will entrance youngsters. However exciting the story becomes, it ends appropriately with a nap in a raccoon’s cozy nest.
LOOK INSIDE
AWARDS & HONOURS
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice 1987 Selection
REVIEWS
• “Patricia Sillers describes the adventures in a lively poetic text and Karen Patkau has illustrated the story with highly effective collages. The sense of texture and depth, and the vigour of the work makes for striking illustrations. … An added value of this type of picture book is the inspiration Karen Patkau’s work offers young children, to try what they can do in the same medium. This is one of the best picture books of the year. ” – Canadian Children’s Annual
• “Ringtail pairs Patricia Siller’s lilting text with exquisitely detailed and textured illustrations by Karen Patkau. … While the ravine setting is familiar to many children … it is an exciting hidden world for others to get a peek into. … bold illustrations capture the mystery and the beauty of the environment. … Each page vibrates with light, texture, and form, giving the story a sense of immediacy. That feeling is echoed in the words. By the story’s end, even those of us who have thought of racoons only as annoying scavengers will feel a little more kindly towards them … ” – Quill & Quire
• “Six-year olds find the explosively phrased poems of this book captivating … and the fun-loving raccoon gives them lots to talk about.” – The Record
• “The startling delight of Karen Patkau’s colourful art is the setting for the story-in-verse of Ringtail.” – The Montreal Gazette
KAREN PATKAU 