The stories of Haiti are filled with the deeds of the clever, sly Ti Malice and his acquaintance Bouki, whose wits are not as nimble. In her author’s note, MacDonald (Quentin Fenton Herter III, 2002, etc.) acknowledges using a tale of a “legendary shrewd peasant” referred to in a book on Haitian culture, The Magic Island (1929), by W.B. Seabrook, a New York Times reporter and a great traveler. Her character Malese (a variation on Ti Malice) fools various villagers into providing rum and shoes for him in an ingenious way, just as the peasant Theot Brun succeeded in doing in the original story, credited to Ernest Chauvet, publisher of Le Nouvelliste, a venerable Haitian newspaper. She has taken this story, whether legendary or true, and constructed her own trickster tale in which Malese not only winds up with a jug that is filled with more rum than water and a full pair of new shoes made to his specifications by two different cobblers, but also a donkey ride from Bouki. When his neighbors try to lock up Malese for a month to punish him for his illegitimate dealings, he uses his gift of gab to shame them into freeing him after only one day—and fixing his roof in the bargain. Lisker’s (The Story of Shabbat, 2000, etc.) exciting paintings, with their intense tropical colors and bold forms, are reminiscent of Haitian paintings, but lack the detail and specificity of the most interesting of the country’s naïf works. Readers can start here to get a taste of this particular trickster tradition and then go on to find other tales about Ti Malice. (author’s note) (Folktale. 6-9)
Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2002
ISBN: 0-374-36000-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Melanie Kroupa/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
Once the sky was so close that people could reach up and break off pieces of it to eat, but they wasted so much that the sky grew angry. Finally, after a woman broke off a big piece despite the sky's warnings and then tried to hide what she couldn't finish, the sky floated up to where it is today, forcing us to work for our food ever since. First published as a picture book in 1974, this Nigerian tale is presented here with some revision (lines added, sexist language removed) and colorful new illustrations. Golembe's large monotypes combine simple patterns and stylized but recognizable objects; intensely black human figures provide focal points in most scenes. The story may be centuries old, but it teaches a timely lesson and is retold in a lively, nonpreachy way. (Folklore/Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-30852-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A humorous story about a boy realizing for the first time what it's like to be in the other guy's shoes: Ben tries hard to be nice when his nerdy cousin Markie visits for a weekend, but when Markie makes him miss out on the leaf-raking job that would finally have given him enough money to buy a skateboard, Ben takes out his frustration and disappointment on the younger boy. Unexpectedly, Markie lashes back, forcing Ben to think hard about his own behavior. That—and Markie's surprising chutzpah at an amusement park—cause Ben to notice unsuspected qualities in his weird cousin, and leads to the beginnings of a friendship between them. Though the reading here is easy, Kleitsch neatly renders the foibles of both kids and adults. Some of the cartoon-like b&w drawings show Ben's fantasy adventures, Ö la Calvin and Hobbes. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-525-44891-8
Page Count: 74
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1992
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