A West African tale, carefully sourced, about a farmer whose yam and then dog talk to him. Terrified, he runs until he meets a fisherman who listens to the farmer's tale. `` `Oh,' said the fisherman, `that can't happen.' `Oh, yes it can,' the fish said to them.'' Terrified, the two of them run until they meet a weaver (whose cloth talks), a bather (the water talks), and the chief (his chair talks and ``he ran uphill and downhill and was never seen again''). The plot has all the poetic repetitions typical of folktales, but stripped down to the bare essentials, the minimalism becomes remarkable. Demonstrating exceptional timing, Medearis's narrative unwinds like a song with verses and refrains. On top of this, the deadpan comedy found in the contrast between the formal dialogue of the humans and the casual words of the yam, dog, cloth, water, and chair makes this some sort of miniature masterpiece. Vitale paints with oils on wood, using sweet, smoky colors. His flat, funny characters appear in exaggerated postures amid stylized landscapes with nominal perspective surrounded by patterned borders. Laugh with it or laugh at it—it's a great little book. (Picture book. 3+)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 1-56402-323-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1995
Gets the job done.
Why voting matters.
After learning about the history and importance of voting in her elementary school classroom, narrator and protagonist Callie is smitten by the possibilities of the vote. When her teacher tells the class they will be voting on their class field trip—a choice between the cookie factory (free samples!) or the wilderness park—Callie campaigns for the wilderness park. The park is very important to Callie because it is where she saw her “first swallowtail butterfly,” her “first turtle in a pond,” and even a great horned owl. Additionally, Callie knows that the park’s budget is up for a townwide vote because her grandmother has been out campaigning for the funding. Callie thinks that if the class visits the park, her classmates will experience the beauty of nature and will encourage their families to visit (and support funding) it. Some classmates who have never been to the park don’t see why it would be more fun than a cookie factory, but Callie does her research and makes her presentation. Another classmate makes a presentation for the cookie trip. Then comes the vote….The story unfolds smoothly, and the agreeable but undistinguished illustrations feature people of many skin colors, people who use wheelchairs, and a woman in a hijab. Narrator Callie has pale skin and brown hair. Backmatter pages give further voting information (who, how, history timeline) and resources.
Gets the job done. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8498-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few...
Shamir offers an investigation of the foundations of freedoms in the United States via its founding documents, as well as movements and individuals who had great impacts on shaping and reshaping those institutions.
The opening pages of this picture book get off to a wobbly start with comments such as “You know that feeling you get…when you see a wide open field that you can run through without worrying about traffic or cars? That’s freedom.” But as the book progresses, Shamir slowly steadies the craft toward that wide-open field of freedom. She notes the many obvious-to-us-now exclusivities that the founding political documents embodied—that the entitled, white, male authors did not extend freedom to enslaved African-Americans, Native Americans, and women—and encourages readers to learn to exercise vigilance and foresight. The gradual inclusion of these left-behind people paints a modestly rosy picture of their circumstances today, and the text seems to give up on explaining how Native Americans continue to be left behind. Still, a vital part of what makes freedom daunting is its constant motion, and that is ably expressed. Numerous boxed tidbits give substance to the bigger political picture. Who were the abolitionists and the suffragists, what were the Montgomery bus boycott and the “Uprising of 20,000”? Faulkner’s artwork conveys settings and emotions quite well, and his drawing of Ruby Bridges is about as darling as it gets. A helpful timeline and bibliography appear as endnotes.
A reasonably solid grounding in constitutional rights, their flexibility, lacunae, and hard-won corrections, despite a few misfires. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-54728-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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