The author of the fine Shake Rag (1998), which made a picture book from the early life of Elvis Presley, takes some memories belonging to her paratrooper father-in-law, among others, and crafts a tale of D-Day for young people. When Lisette is six, German soldiers come to her lovely Normandy town. They confiscate all the goods in Monsieur Lomoine’s shop, and there is little to eat or wear. Lisette prays every night for an angel, and listens in secret to the radio that promises help soon. On the night of June 6, 1944, when her parents are tending a sick neighbor, she and her brother Emile see an angel fall from the sky. It’s a young American soldier, his silk parachute making a shimmering star over their garden. Lisette and her brother hide the soldier in the barn until the Germans pass by, and he leaves them with the parachute and precious chocolate for Emile. Lisette’s mother makes her a silk dress from the material, as shimmering as it was when it brought her and Emile their angel. The palette and textures of Ginsburg’s oils are dark and somber, perhaps a bit more so than the soaring text needs as counterpoint. It’s quite a lovely story, and the images don’t always match in intensity. The GI, however, is jaunty and young and extremely appealing. A new way to bring a bit of WWII history to the youngest of children. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2435-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
An inspiring story of young boy's compelling desire to read. As a boy of nine, Booker works in a salt mine from the dark of early morning to the gloom of night, hungry for a meal, but even hungrier to learn to read. Readers follow him on his quest in Malden, Virginia, where he finds inspiration in a man ``brown as me'' reading a newspaper on a street corner. An alphabet book helps, but Booker can't make the connection to words. Seeking out ``that brown face of hope'' once again, Booker gains a sense of the sounds represented by letters, and these become his deliverance. Bradby's fine first book is tautly written, with a poetic, spiritual quality in every line. The beautifully executed, luminous illustrations capture the atmosphere of an African-American community post-slavery: the drudgery of days consumed by back- breaking labor, the texture of private lives conducted by lantern- light. There is no other context or historical note about Booker T. Washington's life, leaving readers to piece together his identity. Regardless, this is an immensely satisfying, accomplished work, resonating first with longing and then with joy. (Picture book. 5- 8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09464-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965) upgrades to The Mice and the Rolls-Royce.
In Windsor Castle there sits a “dollhouse like no other,” replete with working plumbing, electricity, and even a full library of real, tiny books. Called Queen Mary’s Dollhouse, it also plays host to the Whiskers family, a clan of mice that has maintained the house for generations. Henry Whiskers and his cousin Jeremy get up to the usual high jinks young mice get up to, but when Henry’s little sister Isabel goes missing at the same time that the humans decide to clean the house up, the usually bookish big brother goes on the adventure of his life. Now Henry is driving cars, avoiding cats, escaping rats, and all before the upcoming mouse Masquerade. Like an extended version of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), Priebe keeps this short chapter book constantly moving, with Duncan’s peppy art a cute capper. Oddly, the dollhouse itself plays only the smallest of roles in this story, and no factual information on the real Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is included at the tale’s end (an opportunity lost).
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales. (Fantasy. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6575-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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