An amusing complement to any illustrated version of the Lear poem.
Is whimsy a fancy? A caprice? A vagary? A suddenly impulsive and apparently unmotivated idea or action, as a dictionary might define it?
Ms. Fox in purple skirts with two yellow parasols and Mr. Prat, an unlikely mixture of pig and rat, vie with each other as they enact their definitions of “whimsy.” Preposterous ideas abound. Ms.Fox asserts that “whimsy is when I wear a cat for a hat and feed it custard and cream with a silver spoon.” Mr. Prat disagrees: “Sweet Ms. Fox, whimsy is when I wear pink pantaloons and ride a unicycle with my dog Blue.” At one point, Ms. Fox asks Mr. Prat to dance with her “forever by the light of the moon.” Who should be gliding by in a boat in the accompanying double-page spread, but those two well-known characters of comic poetry, the Owl and the Pussy-cat. As their famous forebears did in Lear’s poem, the amusing duo marry and produce an heir with the best qualities of both whimsical creatures. Watercolors in pastel and deeper-toned hues depict the playful creatures and their other friends as they cavort through these pages.
An amusing complement to any illustrated version of the Lear poem. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2014
ISBN: 978-8-181-90305-1
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Karadi Tales
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
It could be argued that simplifying and softening these tales does neither the stories nor their audience any good, but for...
Fourteen familiar tales are retold in their simplest and most bloodless forms for reading aloud to very young children—an approach somewhat subverted by Hague’s powerful and somewhat surreal pictures.
It opens with “Beauty and the Beast,” and the Beast is genuinely terrifying. Cinderella’s sisters are forgiven so long as they “promise to be good.” Rumpelstiltskin does not tear himself in two but disappears in a huff. Snow White’s lips are “red as a rose,” and the evil queen’s fate is elided. The stories are kept quite short, and usually, as in “The Ugly Duckling” and “Jack and the Beanstalk,” the moral or lesson is writ large. Perhaps the least familiar tale is that of “The Seven Ravens,” in which a girl saves her seven brothers, who had been turned birds—an act that involves her cutting off her little finger. Hague’s illustrations are rich in saturated color and sinuous line, and they owe a debt to both the painter Gustav Klimt and the illustrator Arthur Rackham. Some of the motifs seem familiar from other images in Hague’s long career of illustrating fairy tales.
It could be argued that simplifying and softening these tales does neither the stories nor their audience any good, but for those who want short and sweet versions, they are here. (Fairy tales. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-688-14010-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Corderoy and Berger have concocted a splendid follow-up (Hubble, Bubble, Granny Trouble, 2012) full of gentle humor...
Granny sure knows how to cast a spell, but her granddaughter, who narrates, just wants to spend time getting ready for her upcoming birthday party without using the special “Helping Kit.”
Readers may think it would be cool to have a grandmother who is a witch, but Granny’s magic tricks frequently yield unexpected and somewhat disastrous results: A bad-hair-day fix leaves the granddaughter with a hot pink bouffant do, for instance. So Granny agrees to help bake a cake from scratch and sew together a new dress from some “found…strips of red.” Kids will snicker at the ramshackle results, but the granddaughter could not be happier with the less-than-perfect preparations since all has been “made with tons of love.” The guests arrive, and everyone has fun. But afterward, Granny and her granddaughter are left with a colossal mess. Granny comes to the rescue with a “Whizz! Pop!” that thoroughly cleans everything up just in time for one last birthday gift. The final spread dramatically differs from the dominant pastel pinks, blues and grays that have come before to show a fireworks “Happy Birthday” message brightly popping against the black night sky.
Corderoy and Berger have concocted a splendid follow-up (Hubble, Bubble, Granny Trouble, 2012) full of gentle humor spotlighting the special relationship between grandmothers and granddaughters. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6551-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
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