Pure joie de vivre but a bit less joie de vérité.
Will the young engineer Eiffel save his pretty wife from slipping into oblivion?
“Eiffel is a happy engineer / young, successful, and in love. / The prettiest girl in Paris is his wife. / Her name is Cathy, and she has a thirst for life.” Early in the simple tale, Cathy becomes mysteriously ill, and Eiffel works feverishly to create her desire: “Cathy tries to laugh and tells Eiffel with a wink / ‘You could build us a railway / that takes us up to the clouds in a blink.’ ” The internal rhymes and graceful, syncopated rhythm are the proper match for exuberant, quirky line drawings, accented sparingly with the color pink. The people in the book—including the beloved couple—are depicted with large, oval heads atop tiny, slender bodies that sport carefully detailed clothing. The aerial views of Paris include hundreds of tiny rooftops and windows, with comical birds in the sky and complementary fish in the Seine. Appropriate for an engineer’s story, art and layout make wonderful use of grids as well as numerous, varying angles and viewpoints, including a double-page spread of the eponymous tower, which requires a 90-degree rotation to view properly. The artwork and text combine to create a delightful fairy tale that, alas, has little basis in reality: Eiffel’s 15-year marriage ended when his Marguerite died of pneumonia, 10 years before completion of the Eiffel Tower. It’s a pity there is no note that helps readers clarify this conflict.
Pure joie de vivre but a bit less joie de vérité. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-3-89955-755-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Gestalten
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world.
A quiet book for putting young children to bed in a state of snowy wonder.
The magic of the north comes alive in a picture book featuring Inuit characters. In the sky at nighttime, snow falls fast. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a raven roosts atop a tall building. / … / In the sky at nighttime, a mother’s delicate song to her child arises like a gentle breeze.” With the repetition of the simple, titular refrain, the author envisions what happens in a small town at night: Young children see their breath in the cold; a hunter returns on his snowmobile; the stars dazzle in the night sky. A young mother rocks her baby to sleep with a song and puts the tot down with a trio of stuffed animals: hare, polar bear, seal. The picture book evokes a feeling of peace as the street lamps, northern lights, and moon illuminate the snow. The illustrations are noteworthy for the way they meld the old world with what it looks like to be a modern Indigenous person: A sled dog and fur-lined parkas combine easily with the frame houses, a pickup truck, power lines, and mobile-hung crib. By introducing Indigenous characters in an unremarkably familiar setting, the book reaches children who don’t always see themselves in an everyday context.
A tender bedtime tale set in a too-seldom-seen northern world. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77227-238-3
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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