Take a photo of a barcode or cover
94 reviews for:
A Nest for Celeste: A Story about Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home
Henry Cole
3.61 AVERAGE
94 reviews for:
A Nest for Celeste: A Story about Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home
Henry Cole
3.61 AVERAGE
If you're looking for a sweet animal story about friendship and home, then this book may work for you.
However--and this is a big "however"--this book romanticizes the Antebellum South and has some semi-graphic descriptions of killing animals.
The story is set on a plantation in Louisiana during US Slavery, and it's never mentioned. The daily life on the plantation sounds beautiful and restful and just plain nice. The only Black characters in the book are some tween boys, and they're out playing games. I'm certain they would not have been playing on a plantation in the 1800s.
It felt (purposefully?) dishonest.
Also, John James Audubon is shown as the man he was: cruel to animals and unkind to his assistant. The descriptions aren't super graphic, but you can imagine him shooting the birds and then torturing them (They weren't always dead.) in all sorts of bizarre positions to paint them.
There are plenty of other sweet animal chapter books more worthy of our time.
However--and this is a big "however"--this book romanticizes the Antebellum South and has some semi-graphic descriptions of killing animals.
The story is set on a plantation in Louisiana during US Slavery, and it's never mentioned. The daily life on the plantation sounds beautiful and restful and just plain nice. The only Black characters in the book are some tween boys, and they're out playing games. I'm certain they would not have been playing on a plantation in the 1800s.
It felt (purposefully?) dishonest.
Also, John James Audubon is shown as the man he was: cruel to animals and unkind to his assistant. The descriptions aren't super graphic, but you can imagine him shooting the birds and then torturing them (They weren't always dead.) in all sorts of bizarre positions to paint them.
There are plenty of other sweet animal chapter books more worthy of our time.
This book was amazing. A young mouse named Celeste has lost her home to the bullies the two rats. She now has to find a new home Along the way, she meets a young artist who helps her and soon becomes her friend. She meets so many different animals that all become her friends by helping her find a home. She soon realizes the true meaning of friendship. Come and join Celeste on this wonderful journey through friendship.
An interesting view of a mouse's life and her adventures.
Another cute animal story. This one is a little darker in parts than some others I've read, which isn't necessarily a bad thing (but may be a little too much for sensitive children). The dialogue could have been better, but the artwork makes up for any writing flaws. Fans of Kate DiCamillo will like this.
I think that any book with a mouse (or dog) on the cover has instant kid-appeal. Henry Cole creates a tender heroine with Celeste, a young mouse, who is lonely and looking for a home. She lives under the floorboards of a plantation house, where she fears the cat, and the two rats who steal her food, bite and tease her, and force her to forage for them.
Celeste is an artist, who weaves beautiful baskets from grass blades, shells, feathers, and other scraps from her wanderings around the plantation. When John James Audubon and his young apprentice, Joseph, arrive at the plantation to study the birds and plants, Celeste finds a friend in Joseph, who she sees as a fellow artist. Celeste embarks on several adventures as a result of this new friendship and eventually finds a permanent, safe home.
I thought that the interplay between the illustrations and the text brought Celeste and her world to life and that the book had a nice message about the importance of art and friendship in a person's (mouse's) life.
I wonder if the information about Audubon is too subtle for young readers. Will they realize that many of the birds that Celeste encounters on her adventures like the Carolina parakeet, Ivory-billed woodpecker, and Passenger pigeon are now extinct? OK, maybe not the woodpecker... I think adults should provide additional insight to young readers about Audubon's work and the significance of including these birds in the book, so that young readers will gain deeper meaning from it.
Celeste is an artist, who weaves beautiful baskets from grass blades, shells, feathers, and other scraps from her wanderings around the plantation. When John James Audubon and his young apprentice, Joseph, arrive at the plantation to study the birds and plants, Celeste finds a friend in Joseph, who she sees as a fellow artist. Celeste embarks on several adventures as a result of this new friendship and eventually finds a permanent, safe home.
I thought that the interplay between the illustrations and the text brought Celeste and her world to life and that the book had a nice message about the importance of art and friendship in a person's (mouse's) life.
I wonder if the information about Audubon is too subtle for young readers. Will they realize that many of the birds that Celeste encounters on her adventures like the Carolina parakeet, Ivory-billed woodpecker, and Passenger pigeon are now extinct? OK, maybe not the woodpecker... I think adults should provide additional insight to young readers about Audubon's work and the significance of including these birds in the book, so that young readers will gain deeper meaning from it.
If you like reading about sad mice this book is for you.
The illustrations are phenomenal. Six stars.
The illustrations are phenomenal. Six stars.
This book had lovely illustrations and a cute story, but it bugged the heck out of me. It's a good thing it took only about an hour to read, or I might not have finished it.
I think the author tried to do too much, and ended up under-developing his characters. It's a compelling idea for a story--a mouse who helps John Audubon create lifelike paintings of birds and saves the lives of a couple of them (reminiscent of "Ben and Me"). Audubon apparently killed most of his subjects so that he could pose them the way he wanted them, which would be totally unacceptable today, but then he didn't have a digital camera with a zoom lens.
Anyway, we have the mouse, who is living in a real world with real people (Audubon and his associates), but who talks to other animals, thinks like a human being, and knows how to weave grasses into baskets. I'm fine with that kind of character (a la Despereaux) when the story takes place in a fantasy world, but it's too difficult to suspend belief when you're talking about actual history and real people. Also, if the mouse was that smart and capable, she should have been able to communicate with people in some way--even if limited. A mouse who weaves baskets should probably be able to make herself understood by a sympathetic human.
Second, the relationships between Celeste and others were superficial at best, and yet she formed strong attachments quickly--too quickly for the reader, who ended up not really caring about much of anyone. And the devastating separations (devastating to Celeste, anyway) were glossed over in a way that had me not caring who came or went.
I hope young readers will enjoy the illustrations and like the story more than I did. I also hope this particular book doesn't win any awards.
I think the author tried to do too much, and ended up under-developing his characters. It's a compelling idea for a story--a mouse who helps John Audubon create lifelike paintings of birds and saves the lives of a couple of them (reminiscent of "Ben and Me"). Audubon apparently killed most of his subjects so that he could pose them the way he wanted them, which would be totally unacceptable today, but then he didn't have a digital camera with a zoom lens.
Anyway, we have the mouse, who is living in a real world with real people (Audubon and his associates), but who talks to other animals, thinks like a human being, and knows how to weave grasses into baskets. I'm fine with that kind of character (a la Despereaux) when the story takes place in a fantasy world, but it's too difficult to suspend belief when you're talking about actual history and real people. Also, if the mouse was that smart and capable, she should have been able to communicate with people in some way--even if limited. A mouse who weaves baskets should probably be able to make herself understood by a sympathetic human.
Second, the relationships between Celeste and others were superficial at best, and yet she formed strong attachments quickly--too quickly for the reader, who ended up not really caring about much of anyone. And the devastating separations (devastating to Celeste, anyway) were glossed over in a way that had me not caring who came or went.
I hope young readers will enjoy the illustrations and like the story more than I did. I also hope this particular book doesn't win any awards.
The story was not overly riveting, but the illustrations are stunning.
This book should not be in print; it tells lies about American history and erases the experiences -- in fact, it often erases the existence -- of African-Americans.
This story is set on Oakley Plantation in 1821. The main character is a sentient mouse who can weave baskets, talk to other animals, and befriend Joseph Mason, the teenage assistant of John James Audubon. Mason and Audubon are real people; Oakley Plantation is a real place.
Over the course of the story, the author goes into great detail about the animals and plants of Oakley Plantation. But just about the only people present are the white owners of the land, a variety of hunters shooting birds, Audubon, and his assistant.
These are just a few examples of the absolute erasure of the enslaved people who lived on Oakley Plantation in 1821:
On page 95, "food was being brought out from the summer kitchen."
On page 170, horses "were hurried into the barn, along with wagons of cotton and flax."
On page 218, "Celeste could see that the early activity of the plantation had begun. Horses were pulling wagons toward the rice and sugercane fields, and smoke was rising from a few chimneys dotted across the landscape."
But most offensively of all, on page 150, "Two young boys, the sons of one of the farmhands" give a wood thrush to Joseph for Audubon's project. The boys had found the bird in the lower barn, and in return for their service, Joseph gives them a coin.
A full-page illustration makes it clear that these boys are African-American. This passage, then, tells a lie to children. There were no African-American farmhands on Oakley Plantation in 1821. Any African-American boys on that plantation were the sons of enslaved people. They would themselves be enslaved, and they would not have been earning money by bringing birds to Audubon or his assistant.
No book telling such heinous lies about the reality of Louisiana plantation life in 1821 should remain in print. It is offensive that it was published in 2010 at all.
This story is set on Oakley Plantation in 1821. The main character is a sentient mouse who can weave baskets, talk to other animals, and befriend Joseph Mason, the teenage assistant of John James Audubon. Mason and Audubon are real people; Oakley Plantation is a real place.
Over the course of the story, the author goes into great detail about the animals and plants of Oakley Plantation. But just about the only people present are the white owners of the land, a variety of hunters shooting birds, Audubon, and his assistant.
These are just a few examples of the absolute erasure of the enslaved people who lived on Oakley Plantation in 1821:
On page 95, "food was being brought out from the summer kitchen."
On page 170, horses "were hurried into the barn, along with wagons of cotton and flax."
On page 218, "Celeste could see that the early activity of the plantation had begun. Horses were pulling wagons toward the rice and sugercane fields, and smoke was rising from a few chimneys dotted across the landscape."
But most offensively of all, on page 150, "Two young boys, the sons of one of the farmhands" give a wood thrush to Joseph for Audubon's project. The boys had found the bird in the lower barn, and in return for their service, Joseph gives them a coin.
A full-page illustration makes it clear that these boys are African-American. This passage, then, tells a lie to children. There were no African-American farmhands on Oakley Plantation in 1821. Any African-American boys on that plantation were the sons of enslaved people. They would themselves be enslaved, and they would not have been earning money by bringing birds to Audubon or his assistant.
No book telling such heinous lies about the reality of Louisiana plantation life in 1821 should remain in print. It is offensive that it was published in 2010 at all.