The Tower to the Sun

Rating:
Summary: Our children's inheritance superbly crafted.
Review: Colin Thompson is a craftsman in both word and thought, 'Tower to the Sun' is a feast for the eyes and the soul. Imagination runs rampant while reality raps nervously on your sensibilities. In a world of darkness this is a story of a immensely rich man and his adoring grandson who decide to build a tower through the man-made smog so that each may feel the sun on their face. It is a vision of one real possibility facing the future generations and a warning of this generation's carelessness with the environment. A joy to read over and over again with pictures that reveal something new at every viewing. Children will delight at the endless variety and adults will marvel at the intricacy and depth to the story telling.

Rating:
Summary: A REASSURING TALE OF HOME AND LOVE
Review: The Tower To The Sun is an amazing edifice constructed by the inventive mind of England's Colin Thompson. As always, the intricacies of his brilliantly conceived illustrations fascinate in this conscience-raising tale of the richest man in the world who wants his grandson to see truly blue sky.

British writer/artist Jane Hissey takes toys and readers on a moonlight excursion in Hoot (Random House, $18.00). Her luminous watercolor paintings of button-eyed plush toys are wonderfully apt accompaniment for this reassuring tale of home and love.