Once again, the ever-resourceful Avi (The Bird, the Frog, and the Light, p. 391, etc.) explores new ground. Ben is nine when his teenage sister, Nettie, fetches him from school, where he'd been sent to honor his dead mother's wishes. Their father has had a "palsy" (a stroke), and Ben's help is needed on the 300-acre family claim in Oregon Territory. Ben, intellectually gifted and a natural leader, soon determines the most efficient division of labor: He'll care for Father while Harrison, 13, and Nettie farm. (Some of this stretches credulity: Paralyzed and incontinent, Father requires more lifting than a nine-year-old could credibly manage; and, although Avi suggests the difficulties in one poignant scene, dealing with the necessary laundry is never mentioned.) Desperate to reclaim Father, Ben pins his hopes on the idea that if they can build a barn, as Father had planned, then he will recover. The three children do build a sizable, sturdy barn (without even the traditional help of neighbors, stretching credulity still more). Though the effect of the barn's completion doesn't literally match Ben's dream, it's a gift from the three to their dying father and enables him to give them a gift as well: understanding. Ben's spare narrative is lovingly honed, the interaction of the characters drawn with sensitivity and skill. A small, quiet book that may appeal to perceptive readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-531-06861-7
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
“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
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote...
Two republished tales by a Greco-Cherokee author feature both folkloric and modern elements as well as new illustrations.
One of the two has never been offered south of the (Canadian) border. In “Coyote Sings to the Moon,” the doo-wop hymn sung nightly by Old Woman and all the animals except tone-deaf Coyote isn’t enough to keep Moon from hiding out at the bottom of the lake—until she is finally driven forth by Coyote’s awful wailing. She has been trying to return to the lake ever since, but that piercing howl keeps her in the sky. In “Coyote’s New Suit” he is schooled in trickery by Raven, who convinces him to steal the pelts of all the other animals while they’re bathing, sends the bare animals to take clothes from the humans’ clothesline, and then sets the stage for a ruckus by suggesting that Coyote could make space in his overcrowded closet by having a yard sale. No violence ensues, but from then to now humans and animals have not spoken to one another. In Eggenschwiler’s monochrome scenes Coyote and the rest stand on hind legs and (when stripped bare) sport human limbs. Old Woman might be Native American; the only other completely human figure is a pale-skinned girl.
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote tales. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55498-833-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
