Exotic and down-to-earth at the same time, this scrapbook of images of a family whose father and grandfather practice the ancient art of snake charming intrigues visually and textually. Nagda (Tiger Math, 2000, etc.) writes sympathetically about the interconnections between people and animals. Vishnu, the nine- or ten-year old boy who is the focus of this photo essay would like to follow his male relatives, but his father knows that conditions in India are changing. The government, concerned with conservation, is starting to look askance on the men who use snakes for entertainment purposes. Sher Singh would like his son to stay in schools and grow up to “have a better job.” The snake charmers work in Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal, in northern India, but come home often to their village, Mania. Most of the photos show the family and their neighbors as they go about their daily activities: bathing, preparing chapatis, collecting firewood and cow dung for fuel, and attending the village school. Vishnu also accompanies his father as he hunts for new snakes and enjoys the performance he gives for the villagers. Tej, the younger brother, even gets into the act playing the snake flute, whose movement and not the music itself is really the key to snake-charming. Although some of the individual photos lack clarity, the overall design, incorporating decorative borders and folk-art elements on pastel-colored pages, holds the eye. The informative afterword on snake-charming, less accessible than the main text, places this traditional art within a larger context. No bibliography or index is provided. Although intrinsically interesting and true to the village setting, one wishes for a wider glimpse of contemporary India. When will these pictures show the son of a computer programmer or a scientist? (Nonfiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8050-6499-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
Lively fun with animal friends.
Has Plum’s pep deserted him?
Several animals from the Athensville Zoo are on their way to visit an elementary school. Overconfident Itch the ningbing (an Australian marsupial), unaware that zookeeper Lizzie will be doing all the talking, looks forward to “lecturing eager young minds.” Plum, the usually chipper peacock, on the other hand, is anxious—maybe the schoolchildren won’t like him or he’ll get lost. So when they arrive at the school to find the students have been sent home due to a blizzard, Plum is relieved. The animals are left in a school gym for the night until three self-important class mice free them. Itch heads for the library to meet the learned turtle, but Plum reluctantly explores with his friends. When his anxiety peaks, they reassure him, and when the mice reject Meg, another peacock, as “borrrring” and uncool, they buoy her as well before everyone comes together to save Itch, who finds himself outside and stranded in a snowdrift. Unlike Leave It to Plum (2022), this is not a mystery, and the relationship focus shifts from Lizzie to the rodents, but the pace is brisk, and sequel seekers will be pleased to revisit familiar characters (if dismayed that Itch’s longing for knowledge leads to his downfall). In Phelan’s engaging grayscale pen-and-wash illustrations, Lizzie has short curly hair; text and art cue her as Latine.
Lively fun with animal friends. (how to draw Plum) (Chapter book. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-06-307920-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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