It's 1909 in a New Hampshire farming town. Lucy (Hall's mother) has just seen the first changing leaf and figures it's time to start preparing for Christmas (much as retailers would like us to behave today, but then Lucy had to make all her presents). Her folks are also busy getting ready for winter, poring over the new Sears Roebuck catalogue for a kitchen stove. They decide on a Glenwood Kitchen Range—``Queen of the Kitchen.'' The stove arrives only days before St. Nick and is greeted with no less enthusiasm. The church Christmas program is afoot, though, so the girls pry themselves from in front of the warm stove and get back to assembling chains of bright paper and bags of popcorn and ribbon candy to put under the church tree. On Christmas day, the family sleighs to church, where hymns are sung, poetry recited, short plays enacted, and a host of presents unwrapped. Hall's (I Am the Dog, I Am the Cat, p. 1129, etc.) poetic touch is found all over the book, and McCurdy's woodcut accompaniments spin the reader back 80 years: You can smell the kerosene from the lamps, sense the deepness of the woods. You just know how the Glenwood will be put to use once the sap starts running. A winner. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-15-276870-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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