Well-meaning if heavy-handed, this picture book views a Latin American dictatorship through the eyes of a nine year old. Pedro doesn’t understand why his parents listen so carefully to the radio broadcast every night. He knows that the streets are now full of soldiers, but until a friend’s father is arrested, Pedro has really never thought about the turmoil that is going on in his country. Pedro finally asks if his father and mother are against the dictatorship; his father tells him that yes, he and Pedro’s mother oppose the new regime. When Pedro asks if that means that he (Pedro) is also against the government, his mother answers, “Children aren’t against anything. Children are just children.” But despite this, Pedro has gotten the implicit message that he, too, is against the dictatorship. So when an army officer comes into Pedro’s classroom and announces that the child who writes the best composition on the topic of what his or her parents do at home in the evening will win a prize, Pedro understands that he has to protect his parents. While he doesn’t win the officer’s prize, he does win the admiration and respect of his parents by ingeniously saying that his parents play chess every evening, all evening long. Although the story ends well for its heroes, the reader comes away with the distinct impression that Pedro hasn’t been very well prepared by his parents. They tell their son the truth about their own political leanings, yet leave it up to Pedro to figure out that he’s supposed to lie for them. The illustrations are unsophisticated, even a little amateurish (the depictions of Pedro aren’t consistent from image to image), and only contribute to the book’s heavily didactic tone. Useful, perhaps, for social-studies teachers trying to explain what life is like under a totalitarian regime, but not a particularly engaging work. (afterword) (Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88899-390-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2000
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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