Vague text and anemic pictures make this at best a half-hearted tribute to the construction workers of the last century or so. In her brief, poetic text Johnson writes of “those shadowy building men . . . moving the earth to connect water,” of “railroad workers . . . who were there to connect all.” She continues: “As buildings tower above us / they tell the tales / of the cities . . . They whisper down past it all and say, / ‘They built us, your fathers . . .’ ” There is little here to engage child readers, either intellectually or emotionally, and Moser’s remote, indistinct portraits of ordinary-looking men (only men) dressed in sturdy working clothes and, mostly, at rest, only intermittently capture any sense of individual or collective effort. In evident recognition of these inadequacies, a prose afterword has been added to explain what the book is about—a superfluous feature had Moser and Johnson produced work up to their usual standards. Let readers spend time more profitably with the likes of John Henry or Mike Mulligan. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-590-66521-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The voice may be adult, but the experience is recalled vividly enough to bring young readers along. (Picture book. 6-8)
Warm memories of visits to Grandpa’s house, laced with sentiment and sprinkled with Salish.
Campbell (Shi-shi-etko, also illustrated by LaFave, 2005) draws from childhood experiences to recapture the excitement of visiting her elder relative’s farm. With a gaggle of cousins, the young narrator explores grand-auntie’s old log yuxkn, climbs into the hayloft, feeds crabapples to a horse, gleefully pleases an irritated pig, rejects Grandpa’s pokerfaced offerings of “weird food”—“Don’t want no Rocky Mountain oysters. Don’t want liver or tripe, neither”—and ventures into the dusty storage room to see his World War II medals. LaFave’s cartoon illustrations, informally drawn and digitally colored in transparent washes, capture the exhilaration, sending four energetic youngsters in sneakers and short pants roaming through a succession of comfortably well-kept rural scenes. The lack of pronunciation guidance may cause non-Salish readers to stumble over some lines (“Our grand-aunties and grand-uncles call us kids schmém’i?t”), but the joy of being part of a large family gathering and romping about while the grownups chatter and laugh somewhere else will be familiar to a wide audience.
The voice may be adult, but the experience is recalled vividly enough to bring young readers along. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55498-084-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
The diminutive humans’ unhesitating generosity to one in need adds a warm glow to this gourmand’s delight.
A dismayed lad learns that 10 slices of pizza, 33 jars of peanut butter and 200 cookies are only hors d’oeuvres for a peckish giant. What to do?
Looking decidedly woebegone in Nielsen’s very simple, graphic-style illustrations, the towering giant that silently appears in the backyard sports a reversible sign: “Food” on one side, “Please” on the other. With repeated choruses of “Seriously, you aren’t going to believe this,” and “It’s back to the kitchen for me,” the well-intentioned young narrator nearly empties his astonishingly well-stocked fridge. (His dog, Cowgirl, provides a running side commentary: “That’s one thirsty giant.”) Until, at last, Mom steps in and sets to work concocting a “Ginormous Blueberry Muffin,” “Mega-Pigs in Blankets” and like oversized dishes—all of which are provided with reasonably nutritious “Recipes for a hungry giant (or 8 little kids)” on a flimsy detachable flier. Besides the aforementioned signboard, the sparse but well-designed moveable parts include a pull-up giant on the front cover, a swimming pool filled with chocolate milk that’s slurped up thanks to a pull tab and a big climactic pop-up of the now-smiling giant contemplating a table filled with properly scaled chow.
The diminutive humans’ unhesitating generosity to one in need adds a warm glow to this gourmand’s delight. (Pop-up. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7611-5752-6
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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