Mattland

Mattland by Hazel Hutchins

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

What a sweet story! It's the tale of a boy who has just moved to a new neighborhood--one with lots of mud and nowhere to play/nothing to play with. A stick dragged through the mud creates Snake River...connected with a puddle makes Turtle Lake...and soon Mattland is born.

As the story progresses and the bits of rock and garbage on the lot are transformed into buildings and landmarks, the brown tones of the watercolor illustrations evolve into the colors of an imaginative landscape. Likewise, Matt's solitude flows into friendships as other children sidle closer to see what he's doing and join in the effort to save Mattland when rainwater threatens to wash everything away.

This would be a great book to read to your children. I think it could also work for a storytime for kids circa kindergarten age or preschoolers with longer attention spans. Not TOO many words on the page, but they're not in huge print and don't rhyme. :)


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