Product Description

A little girl longs to see beyond the scary sights on the sidewalk and the angry scribbling in the halls of her building. When her teacher writes the word beautiful on the blackboard, the girl decides to look for something beautiful in her neighborhood. Her neighbors tell her about their own beautiful things. Miss Delphine serves her a “beautiful” fried fish sandwich at her diner. At Mr. Lee’s “beautiful” fruit store, he offers her an apple. Old Mr. Sims invites her to touch a smooth stone he always carries. Beautiful means “something that when you have it, your heart is happy,” the girl thinks. Her search for “something beautiful” leaves her feeling much happier. She has experienced the beauty of friendship and the power of hope.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22388 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-08
• Released on: 2002-01-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780440412106
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
This moving picture book offers a shining testament to the ability of human beings to find "something beautiful" in even the most unlikely places. An African American girl initially sees only the ugliness of her neighborhood. There is "trash in the courtyard and a broken bottle that looks like fallen stars." On her front door, someone has scrawled the word "DIE," and a homeless lady "sleeps on the sidewalk, wrapped in plastic." Searching for something beautiful?"something that when you have it, your heart is happy"?she polls various neighbors. For an old man it is the touch of a smooth stone; for Miss Delphine, it's the taste of the fried fish sandwich in her diner; for Aunt Carolyn, it's the sound of her baby's laugh. When the girl decides to create her own "something beautiful," she picks up the trash, scrubs her door clean and realizes, "I feel powerful." Wyeth's (Always My Dad) restrained text is thoughtful without being didactic. She creates a city landscape that is neither too dark nor too sweet; and her ending is just right, with the heroine's mother saying that her daughter is her "something beautiful." Soentpiet's (Peacebound Trains) paintings are luminously lifelike. Whether depicting the girl running past a chain-link fence in a dark alley or Miss Delphine's patrons sitting beneath the rows of glinting glasses, the paintings focus on a community with characters so real, readers can almost feel the sunlight on their faces. All ages.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-Looking at the trash and graffiti in the courtyard outside her inner-city apartment, a young African-American girl wishes for something beautiful. As she walks home from school, she asks friends and neighbors what their "something beautiful" is, and gets a delightful array of answers: Sybil's jump rope, old Mr. Sims's smooth stone, Aunt Carolyn's baby's laugh, the fried fish sandwiches Miss Delphine serves at her diner. Back home, the girl cleans up her trash-filled courtyard and resolves to help make her own neighborhood into something beautiful. Told in the child's voice, the text captures the curiosity and resilient spirit of childhood. The paintings, rich with realistic detail, begin with dark, sometimes spooky images of a world filled with broken bottles and chain-link fences, then move to brighter, happier scenes peopled with the friendly faces of the neighborhood. Inner-city children will appreciate this believable, upbeat depiction of a community and may be inspired to seek out something beautiful of their own. This engaging picture book could spark discussion about what "beautiful" means to children in any neighborhood.
Dawn Amsberry, formerly at Oakland Public Library, CA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 4^-8. The setting is the drama in this picture book: a small African American girl in a scary neighborhood tells how she searches for something beautiful. In the view from her window, there is trash, broken glass, a brick wall. Someone has scrawled "Die" on the front door of her building. A homeless woman sleeps wrapped in plastic. The alleys are dark and dangerous. The child asks people for something beautiful, and she finds it in the warmth of the local diner, at the friendly fruit stall, with her friends at play, holding her aunt's baby, and, finally, when her loving mother comes home from work. The message is heavily spelled out, but, as in Grimes' Jazmin's Notebook, reviewed on p.228, there is both realism and hope. Soentpiet's stunning illustrations catch the neighborhood close-up from different perspectives: the diner, the launderette, the crowded playground, the homeless on the sidewalk. There is character and beauty without sentimentality in individual people and the community between them. Hazel Rochman

Customer Reviews

Superb in every respect, with a great lesson to teach
Sharon Dennis Wyeth's 1998 book "Something Beautiful" was inspired by her own memories of growing up in a place which was, perhaps, not as beautiful as she would have liked. We follow an unnamed little girl through her neighborhood as she looks for something beautiful as a teacher has instructed her to do. What we see is litter, broken windows, scary graffiti, homeless people, and more. But the little girl manages to find out from everyone she asks what they find beautiful around them. She is variously given the examples of a fish sandwich, a jump rope, some apples at a fruit market, and even a smooth, heavy stone a neighbor carries for good luck. The best and most beautiful example, though, comes from the little girl's mother--and her reply ends the book on a lovely note.

Chris Soentpiet's watercolor illustrations are nothing short of remarkable. They are nearly photographic in their detail and lifelike aspect, and they give a visual rhythm to the text. He is to be commended for his ability to combine both an unflinching look at a downtrodden neighborhood and examples of how we all can find beauty everyday, if we look hard enough.

Jetae' from Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary
I love the illustrations in Something Beautiful because it shows how the girl feels. My favorite part is when she goes looking for something beautiful. Then she finds out that she is beautiful. The illustrations are bright and colorful.

Emily from Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary
I think Something Beautiful was excellent because of Chris Soenpiet's illustrations. I think they were wonderful, marvelous, and interesting. My favorite part was when the little girl found out she was something beautiful. I give this book 5 stars because of the way Chris drew the pictures. I recommend this book to kids of all ages. He made me feel like I was right in the little girl's neighborhood.