Washday - Hardcover

Eve Bunting, who has written many books for children, including Pirate Boy, was inspired to write Washday when she came across a set of washing instructions written long before the days of electric washers and dryers. She lives in California with her husband.

While Brad Sneed illustrated Washday, he tried to give the art the feeling of a memory. "I felt the illustrations should represent a fond recollection--light and form viewed through the gossamer filter of time," he explains. "I was careful to allow colors to merge so that edges are defined not so much by variation in hue or value but by the pencil marks that peek beneath layers of translucent paint." Brad is the award-winning illustrator of more than twenty books for children. He lives in Kansas with his wife and daughter.

K-Gr 3—Lizzie's mother is pregnant and cannot help Grandmother with the wash as usual, so the young girl helps with the intensive chore. She's happy to lend a hand, though missing a planned tea party with her friend Lucy and their dolls does give her a tinge of regret. A calendar on the title page places the story in April 1889, and the lengthy text gives readers an intimate look at the rigors of laundering in the time before washing machines. Lizzie and Grandmother boil water on the stove and carry it to a washbasin into which they shave homemade lye soap. They sort the clothes and scrub them on a washboard—whites first, colors and rags last. After the clothes are put through a hand wringer, they are hung on a line outdoors or placed on grass and bushes to dry. The large illustrations, created in watercolor and pencil, add a great deal to the scene. A close-up of the girl and grandparent in a welcoming embrace reveals the warm affection they share. Both Grandmother and Lizzie wear long dresses and high shoes and have old-fashioned hairdos. A black-iron stove stands out in the plain kitchen with its workbench and butter churn in the corner. Youngsters will be glad to learn that after a rest and a "thick and curdy" drink of buttermilk, Lizzie gets a surprise visitor and a tea party after all. A fine addition to a social studies unit.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT