Why has no one ever before set the Bremen Town Musicians down where they could really resonate—the American South? Well, no matter, because first-time children’s author Price has imaginatively and rhythmically done that in an auspicious debut. Price is a storyteller and early-music specialist who really bends a few notes in this well-loved story, weaving a fun-filled retelling that brays, howls, and crows to be read aloud. To recap: When mule is told by farmer his days are done, he runs off in the footsteps of his ma to “canter up Bourbon Street, under jazz evenings soft as yellow silk.” That kind of siren song, to play trumpet like Louis Armstrong in New Orleans, carries him along to enlist hound, cock, and cat, all of whom are at the end of their luck, into a real, sho-nuff bebop and jazz a cappella band! Ultimately, the hungry quartet sing for their supper, unwittingly scaring off and clearing the house of some well-heeled jewel thieves. Being their own best admirers, they never do get to Bourbon Street, but spend their days at their well-provisioned crawfish shack, “howling down the moon to dance on a song and a dare.” Though a few Southernisms in the story are inconsistent with Louisiana-isms, and a bayou is not a swamp, these are forgivable in the exuberant spirit of language play. Illustrator Glass (Mountain Men, 2001, etc.) known for his books on the American frontier, crosses the river with his loose, colorful style to harmonize perfectly with this completely satisfying, must-have rendition of the age-old tale. (Picture book. 5+)
Pub Date: April 22, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-04076-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2002
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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