The author of Loop the Loop (1992, ALA Notable) tells another story remarkable for its sensitivity and deft interweaving of themes. Though it's hard to say goodbye, Ernest's mama is driving her two children from the East to Minnesota, where ``there's a job waiting,'' and family. ``Most precious belongings only,'' she says, and holds her tongue when Ernest takes pet grasshopper Albert. During the long trip, Ernest begins to see the confining car—he and sister Ella have 50 fights by Indianapolis—as resembling Albert's jar; even though Albert is a memento of home, he lets him go at Aunt Leona's and is rewarded with Mama's warm approval: ``Not every boy could have done that on his own.'' Dugan carefully builds Ernest's understanding with beautifully integrated details. But, here, she's less lucky with her illustrator: Baker's watercolors are expressive, but their clumsy, static forms don't serve the story well, and she hasn't solved the problem of making the cooped-up journey visually interesting. Still, unusually perceptive, well-told, and likable. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10836-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A marketing trip from Miranda (Glad Monster, Sad Monster, p. 1309) that jiggity jigs off in time-honored nursery-rhyme fashion, but almost immediately derails into well-charted chaos. The foodstuffs—the fat pig, the red hen, the plump goose, the pea pods, peppers, garlic, and spice—are wholly reasonable in light of the author's mention of shopping at traditional Spanish mercados, which stock live animals and vegetables. Stevens transfers the action to a standard American supermarket and a standard American kitchen, bringing hilarity to scenes that combine acrylics, oil pastels, and colored pencil with photo and fabric collage elements. The result is increasing frazzlement for the shopper, an older woman wearing spectacles, hat, and purple pumps (one of which is consumed by her groceries). It's back to market one last time for ingredients for the hot vegetable soup she prepares for the whole bunch. True, her kitchen's trashed and she probably won't find a welcome mat at her supermarket hereafter, but all's well that ends well—at least while the soup's on. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-15-200035-6
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1997
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