by Anthony Horowitz & illustrated by Thomas Yeates ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Mining his backlist, Horowitz offers six traditional tales from the Kingfisher Book of Myths and Legends (U.K. edition 1985, no previous U.S. edition), revised and repackaged in the first of a projected half-dozen volumes. Going straight for the gusto, he opens with the story of Theseus and the Minotaur (“I want to be more than your friend,” purrs Ariadne, arming the hero for his battle with the horned monster), then follows with the suicide dive required to cast “The Great Bell of Peking” [sic], the blood-soaked legend of Romulus and Remus, an Amazonian tale so violent that the author opens with an apology, an Incan story that ends with a child sacrifice and finally, in a break from the gore, the tale of Sir Gawain and “The Ugly Wife.” Comics-style spot art, panels and insets featuring fearsome creatures and muscular heroes in (often scanty) period costume add further notes of melodrama to nearly every spread. The simultaneously published Legends: Beasts and Monsters (ISBN: 978-0-7534-1936-6) dishes up an even less palatable buffet. (Folktales. 10-13)
Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7534-1937-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
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by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Brian Selznick ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2001
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
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by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Mark Elliott
by Michael Morpurgo & illustrated by Michael Foreman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2006
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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by Michael Morpurgo ; illustrated by Tom Clohosy Cole
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by Michael Morpurgo ; illustrated by Benji Davies
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by Michael Morpurgo ; illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill
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