If

April 28, 2014
Kipling's inspirational poemâthe one that begins, "If you can keep your head when all about you/ Are losing theirs"âdescribes how to preserve one's honor by the principled avoidance of political and moral pitfalls. Italian artist Manna imagines the "you" of the poem as a boy journeying through a series of watercolor landscapes: fields under billowing clouds, misty nights, craggy mountaintops. To accompany the poem's first line, Manna paints the boy watching from a great green meadow as storm clouds approach; he stands and watches with a cool head, rather than running in fear. For "If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew/ To serve your turn long after they are gone," Manna shows the boy climbing a rocky pitch, the peaks of other mountains poking through the clouds below. Flying kites represent temptation, and dull-eyed marionettes represent allies who can't be trusted ("If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken/ Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools"). Though young readers may not fathom the poem's complexities, the grandeur of Manna's scenes conveys the loftiness of Kipling's sentiments. Ages 6â8.

March 15, 2014
Though at times symbolic or only obliquely related to the adjacent lines, Manna's graceful images lend luminous visual notes to Kipling's stately prescription for maturity. Originally addressed by Kipling to his son but equally applicable to people of either sex (and any age), the poem is cast as a series of generalized challenges and moral, stiff-upper-lip responses: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two imposters just the same...." The verses are presented with typographical flourishes in one to five lines per spread, with natural breaks that are neatly chosen to preserve the language's flow. In the accompanying watercolors, a solitary, ruminative lad faces a prowling wolf, wanders among costumed puppets, plants a tree amid burned rubble, reaches out with balletic focus for something on a beach and scales difficult slopes to reach a mountaintop at last. The poem is widely available in collections, but this rendition--an ethereal alternative to the edition illustrated with photographs by Charles R. Smith, Jr. (2007)--makes a lovely keepsake. (introduction) (Picture book. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2014

Gr 1-4-A poignant introduction reveals the story behind Kipling's verse, providing a glimpse into the poet's family life. After losing his oldest daughter to a sudden illness, Kipling was inspired to offer this lyrical bit of fatherly advice to his young son, not knowing that just a few years later, the young man would be killed in battle in World War I. The poem begins, "If/ you can keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on you" and goes on to describe a series of difficult situations the boy may encounter in his life's journey. Kipling hoped his son would take his words to heart; the poem concludes, "Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, /And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!" Manna illustrates each line of the poem in a series of winsome watercolors. A sturdy boy appears hiking beneath a stormy sky, fishing on a mirrorlike lake, or climbing a stony mountain in the softly colored paintings. In one fanciful scenario, he and his elegant white dog stand in a crowd of life-size medieval marionettes, accompanied by the lines "If/you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken/Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools." Charles R. Smith Jr.'s rendition (S. & S.) of Kipling's poem illustrated with sports-related photographs has a modern flair. However, Manna's nostalgic interpretation abounds with an old-fashioned appeal entirely appropriate to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great War. This beautifully crafted book will be a fine addition.-Linda L. Walkins, Saint Joseph Preparatory High School, Boston, MA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Kipling's famous 1909 poem, an inspirational address to his young son (who would soon die in WWI), is given picture-book packaging. It's a mature work--tonally, conceptually, linguistically--and kids may struggle further with line breaks and page turns, but Manna's imposing watercolor scenes of a little boy cloud-gazing, scaling a cliff, and planting a tree in a barren wasteland are inspiration enough.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)