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BURIED BLUEPRINTS

Name: BURIED BLUEPRINTS
Author: Albert Lorenz
ISBN: 0-8109-4110-4

MAPS AND SKETCHES OF LOST WORLDS AND MYSTERIOUS PLACES

by Albert Lorenz & illustrated by Albert Lorenz & Joy Schleh ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1999

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Lorenz and Schleh (House, 1998, etc.) have wonderfully imagined 14 places or structures made famous by myth and legend, offering wry commentary and myriad details to pore over. This book literally starts at the beginning, covering the Garden of Eden, the Ark, and the Tower of Babel; Lorenz and Schleh travel with Odysseus around the Aegean and with Robin Hood and his men through Sherwood Forest, wreak havoc with Genghis Khan, and foster menace with Dracula. Each locale is given a page-long introduction, before a gatefold page reveals an outsized illustration elegantly crammed with detail, incident, and witticisms (so much so that a magnifying glass has been included). The utterly transporting artwork is a marvel of color and visual narrative, with plenty of humor (Noah’s ark comes equipped with methane vents), quietly biting commentary (the page of the Ark is bordered by drawings of endangered species), and quests that readers can embark on within the illustrations. Within these pages are funny details for the Where’s Waldo? set, with a sophisticated comedic embrace for older children, and some set pieces, dry as tinder, that will spark laughter in onlooking adults. (Picture book. 7+)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-8109-4110-4

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SCIENCES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE TROJAN HORSE
by Albert Lorenz & illustrated by Albert Lorenz with by Joy Schleh

- BOOK REVIEW
JOURNEY TO CAHOKIA
by Albert Lorenz with Joy Schleh & illustrated by Albert Lorenz & Joy Schleh

- BOOK REVIEW
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
adapted by Albert Lorenz & illustrated by Albert Lorenz with by Joy Schleh

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NICKOMMOH!

A THANKSGIVING CELEBRATION

by Jackie French Koller ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999

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Koller (Bouncing on the Bed, p. 143, etc.) portrays a Narragansett nickommoh, or celebratory gathering, from which it is very likely the tradition of Thanksgiving was drawn. As explained in an exemplary note—brief, clear, interesting—at the end of the book, these gatherings occurred 13 times a year, once each lunar month. The harvest gathering is one of the larger gatherings: a great lodge was built, copious food was prepared, and music and dance extended deep into the night. Koller laces the text with a good selection of Narragansett words, found in the glossary (although there is no key to pronunciation, even for words such as Taqountikeeswush and Puttuckquapuonck). The text is written as a chanted prose poem, with much repetition, which can be both incantatory and hackneyed, as when “frost lies thick on the fields at dawn, and the winged ones pass overhead in great numbers.” Mostly the phrases are stirring—as are Sewall’s scratchboard evocations—and often inspirational—for this nickommoh puts to shame what has become known as the day before the launch of the holiday shopping season. (Picture book. 6-9)