With her husband and seven children, Knight traveled in 1853 from Iowa to the Oregon Territory. Her terse diary entries create a vivid picture of the journey's challenges (terrible weather, dangerous rivers, bad roads, privation, sickness, accidents) and of a strong pioneer spirit; at the end, the birth of Knight's eighth child near Oregon's Columbia River is the first mention of her pregnancy. In McCurdy's tinted scratchboard illustrations, the pioneers are seen from a low point of view, so that even children and livestock seem larger than life, looming with rugged nobility and solid purpose in a landscape of strong, simple lines—in sharp contrast to Thomas Allen's softened, more intimate scenes for Van Leeuwen's Going West or Mark Graham's romanticized paintings in Pryor's Lottie's Dream (both 1992). First Americans don't come off quite as well here; they beg for food or sell it, collect tolls at fords, and are generally friendly but unpredictable. Schlissel provides a brief introduction concerning the pioneer experience, but unfortunately doesn't discuss the extent of her adaptation. An effective tribute, as far as it goes, to a great enterprise; visually appealing, with historical interest but in need of the kind of careful explanation provided for Marion Russell's memoirs (p. 1079). (Nonfiction/Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 22, 1993
ISBN: 0-671-72375-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1993
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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