Cohabitants Waltur (a bear) and Matilda (a beaver) explore figures of speech in three episodes for emergent readers. Persistently taking little Matilda’s cautionary aphorisms literally, Waltur searches the market for a new pet, refusing to buy several pigs in pokes (bags), but naïvely bringing one home (with disastrous results) because it’s in a box. He then proceeds to prove out the truth of an old fable by assuming that a clutch of eggs will hatch out as chickens and finally he makes a deliberate effort to prove Matilda wrong by leading a horse to water and trying to force it to drink. Sorra illustrates with simply drawn scenes featuring a big bear, a small beaver and the occasional supporting character in comfy country dress. Each episode ends well, despite mishaps, and in the third, Waltur, discovering that persuasion works better than force, demonstrates that he’s not such a dim bulb after all. Gregorich both shows and explains what each saying means, and supplies glimpses of their history at the end to boot. An amusing way to introduce the idea of metaphor—or wordplay in general. (Easy reader. 7-8)
Pub Date: July 24, 2006
ISBN: 0-618-47306-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An airy, light look at one boy’s day at the bay. Camera in tow, a young naturalist sets out in search of frogs. While there are frogs a-plenty hiding under the dock, behind rocks, and perched on the rim of his hat, his eyes are opened to polliwogs, blue herons, crayfish, hummingbirds, loons and turtles. Rhyming couplets accompany each “snapshot” of nature, forming a short, caption-like storyline for this trip around the bay. At the end of his journey, he wonders if the creatures will say, “I saw a human being today.” Pencil crayon illustrations are pale but peaceful, adding to the meditative, meandering mode. The frogs in every spread will gratify find-and-point toddlers and other young listeners. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-55074-498-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
Music has the capacity to make friends of enemies, in this quiet study of one introverted fellow: Mole. Mole spends his days alone in his underground hovel, until one night while eating supper in front of the television, he hears the sweet sound of a violin. “I want to make beautiful music, too,” Mole claims, then sends away for a violin of his own. One note leads to another, and his music goes from screeching to symphonic. Unbeknownst to him, his years of underground practice have overarching effects, seen by readers only in the illustrations. Lilting strains of music attract birds, farmers, presidents, and queens. Mole’s subterranean world, a realm of permanent night, is softly lit by glowing umber, while outside, fighting armies lay down their arms as the music plays on. With endearing characterizations stylistically akin to Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad, the beloved Mole will easily win the affections of readers and inspire young hopes for a better world. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-2819-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
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