In his third entry in the I Can Read Chapter Book series, master storyteller Avi (Abigail Takes the WheeI, 1999, etc.) offers another transitional chapter book with a historical setting, this time the isolated prairie of Colorado in pioneer days. Nine-year-old Noah works alongside his parents and loves his outdoor-oriented life on the family’s homestead. He sees no reason for schooling, but his parents have other ideas. They invite Aunt Dora, who uses a wheelchair, to come from Maine for a long visit with the purpose of providing some “book learning” for her nephew. Noah digs in his heels and resists his aunt’s lessons, but being a determined and skilled teacher, she finds a way to connect with Noah by teaching him about the stars and native plants. Over the summer Noah learns to read and write and by fall is able to read aloud to his proud parents, who have limited reading skills. When Dora returns to her home in the East, she leaves a letter for Noah (presented in letter format), and on the book’s last page, Noah writes his own touching letter to his aunt, which the reader senses will be the start of a fruitful correspondence. Farnsworth’s glowing paintings capture the details of Noah’s pioneer life, showing the dim, cramped interior of their sod dugout and the endless expanse of the prairie. This quiet, thoughtful story will have a subtle appeal to children who may have resisted “book learning” themselves, and the matter-of-fact inclusion of a still-active young teacher in a wheelchair provides further depth to the theme of reading as a “frigate like a book to take us lands away.” (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-06-027664-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
A book of the basic teachings of Buddha, presented through a collection of six classic, simple tales. When a monkey takes refuge from a monsoon in a cave, he happens upon a group of bickering animals—a monkey, lion, turtle, jackal, and dove. Before the fighting becomes too fierce, a small statue of Buddha begins to glow in the darkest corner. To pass the time—and to stop the fighting—wise Buddha spins enlightening stories of tolerance, endurance, sagacity, truthfulness, kindness, and clarity. Buddha recounts his past lives in many forms—from monkey to pigeon to willow tree—to his captive listeners. Such straightforward yet profound tales combine with the art and design for an example of bookmaking that is aesthetically pleasing in every way. Color-washed linoprints cleverly distinguish the stories from the black-and-white narrative frame, while an informative afterword offers brief background detail about Buddha and these six “birth stories” known as Jatakas. (Picture book/folklore. 4-7)
Pub Date: April 8, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-33548-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Readers won’t find this neighbor strange; he merely entertains an age-old desire to fly. But hark back a 120 years, when this story takes place, and one can begin to appreciate the skeptics who surround Melville Murrell, technically the creator of the first human-powered airplane two decades before the Wright brothers. To the narrator, it’s strange that “our neighbor” studies birds, makes drawings, and tries to be airborne. The title sentence becomes a bleating refrain, turning the book into a one-kick joke when Murrell’s contraption flies and the narrator is almost rendered speechless. Krudop’s paintings, with their great slabs of vibrant color, are atmospheric delights, conjuring up Murrell as the eccentric his neighbors believe him to be, and the era as one in which innovators were no more appreciated—at least till they struck it rich—than they are today. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30107-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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