An oddity, this: four picture-stories, printed on heavy coated stock, that together make up a thick, 6(apple)" by 9(apple)", 200-page volume. But regardless of the format, none of the four stories would stand up to scrutiny. "The Golden Brothers" starts with a fisherman, his demanding, bossy wife, and a gift-bestowing fish (a direct steal from you-know-what); then switches to two golden lilies, golden foals, and golden boys bestowed by the fish (supposedly, to get the wife off his back); then takes up the adventures of the bolder of the two golden boys—who foils some robbers, marries "the most beautiful girl in the world," pursues a stag, runs afoul of a witch who turns him to stone, and is finally freed by his brother. . . who knew something was amiss when one of the golden lilies snapped. One stock fairy-tale motif succeeds another, to no emotional effect and little plot purpose. And, even more surprising considering the authorship, the writing is just awful: "Beyond the forest there was a village, and in it was the most beautiful girl in the world alive. As soon as he saw her, the boy loved her. 'Marry me,' said the boy. 'I will,' said the girl. So the girl and the boy were married, and lived happily." Both the next story, "The Girl of the Golden Gate," and the fourth, "The Princess and the Golden Mane," consist in large measure of long chase sequences in which the girls pursued throw down various objects to thwart their pursuers and make their escape. (The former also involves a mother who, for no given reason, "doesn't like" her daughter and sends her to be killed.) The remaining story, "The Three Golden Heads of the Well," follows the old good-sister-rewarded/bad-sister-penalized pattern—with somewhat unusual props. Except for that one really sinister mother, and an ogre or two, pretty much a non-experience—complete to the vacant full-color pictures.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1981
ISBN: 0001952633
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1981
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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