Acacia Terrace - Hardcover

Grade 4-6-- Over time, many changes came to Acacia Terrace, a group of three houses overlooking the harbor in Sydney, Australia. When it was built by Michael Flynn in 18 7 2, the Terrace was among the finest residences in the city, but through the years the fortunes of the family rose and fell with Australia's history of depressions and two World Wars . By 1972 the Terrace was slated for destruction, but was saved by a young architect and his wife who restored the property and infused the neighborhood with civic pride. The story of Acacia Terrace is of some interest because it brings Australia into focus as a country whose culture and history is remarkably like our own. However, the narrative is labored. Too many events are catalogued, there are too many brief references to historical events, and too many characters speak their lines in stilted dialogue before disappearing from the scene. The illustrations are charming, with tiny buildings and miniature figures moving about in toy-town settings, brightly colored like painted postcards. It is refreshing to have this glimpse of Australia and its history, but for an understanding of how time changes habitats, the simpler text and full-page pictures of the Provensens' Shaker Lane (Viking, 1987) is far more effective. --Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Wilson has written a heartwarming story of a neighborhood's birth, decline and renewal. Unfortunately, the subject is so vast and the text so wordy that the picture-book format is not entirely successful: in order to cover the lengthy period depicted, the book is filled with an overabundance of cursory descriptions. Each verso is crowded with copy (one actually covers from just after World War II to "The Age of Aquarius") and faces Fielding's colorful, naive-style art. Though these vividly-colored pictures are lovely, they too are crammed with detail and are inaccessible portrayals with no sense of life. Nevertheless, the book does offer a bittersweet glimpse of times gone by and a promise of hope for the future. Ages 7-12.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.