Generosity, princesses, volcanoes, deities—maybe there’s too much packed into this story.
History mixes with folklore in this story of the Mauna Loa volcano.
In July 1881, Princess Luka traveled to Hilo to reverse the flow of lava from the volcano, an event that provides the foundation for this tale. Little Nani, who wants to be a princess herself, is excited about meeting a real princess. On the way to the harbor, Nani has a strange encounter with an older woman in a white sleeveless dress and lei of reddish flowers, more traditionally attired than the townspeople in their Western clothing. When the old woman asks for something to eat, Nani shares her candy. Nani also provides candy for the balky horse that pulls the wagon that will convey the unusually tall Princess Luka to the volcano, and she supplies a piece of red fabric torn from her petticoat needed by the princess to “appease Pele,” goddess of the volcano. Luka is successful, the lava is stopped, and Nani has yet another meeting with an unknown woman, this time a younger version of the woman in the white dress: it is Pele. The detailed watercolors are sometimes a little stiff and clumsy but give a good sense of 19th-century Hawaii. The story is a little more problematic, with its interjection of folklore and the personification of Pele. Information about volcanoes and Princess Luka is appended.
Generosity, princesses, volcanoes, deities—maybe there’s too much packed into this story. (bibliography) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62855-948-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Arbordale Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Young readers on either side of the pond who are tempted to do as the queen does should not be dissuaded.
With winks broad enough to sprain his entire face, Wilkins offers a tale of the queen’s outing to London’s Natural History Museum with a reluctant corgi in tow.
Mr. Brown trotting gloomily at her heels, the queen impulsively stumps out of the palace one snowy day, marching past crowds of oblivious tourists and passersby. She’s off to see the museum’s spectacular dinosaur fossils—rendered in the scribbly illustrations with wide eyes and friendly smiles rather than bony skulls. Dismissing the asteroid-impact theory, she ruminates over why they went extinct. (Aliens ate them? Maybe they were “overwhelmed by the stink of their own poo”?) Continuing her woolgathering, she parks herself on a bench and nods off, dreaming of racing at Ascot…atop a Megalosaurus. But she’s “pipped at the post” by none other than Mr. Brown, riding a Carnotaurus. How annoying! Later a guard wakes her: “I hope you’ve got a nice, warm home to go back to?” “Thank you, yes yes I do. That’s very kind of you to enquire.” In the colored-pencil cartoons, done with childlike simplicity, Mr. Brown’s changing expressions provide silent, eloquent commentary. This is a British import, with Briticisms intact.
Young readers on either side of the pond who are tempted to do as the queen does should not be dissuaded. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-565-09325-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Natural History Museum/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
Well-meaning but flawed.
An original tale based in folklore about a Native American girl’s willingness to help her people through the power of a mysterious stone.
Set before horses were introduced to the Cheyennes, here is the story of Stands-by-Herself, a girl who lives with her grandmother and “her people on the great plains.” True to her name, she is a solitary child, and the other children constantly tease her, causing her to wish she could “fly away with the ducks.” In an attempt to soothe the girl, her grandmother references the Creator, assuring her that someday she will find the power to do good. Soon she comes across the titular artifact, which will send her down the foreshadowed path soon enough, as her people, come summer, are hungry, undergoing drought and sickness. The author builds an affecting story that centers on his Native American protagonist and her love for her people, though he never names that people within it. The soft, pastel-hued watercolor illustrations evoke the pre-Colonial Plains and its peoples; unusually detailed notes provide further information in the backmatter. In his afterword, Myers contextualizes his position as an outsider, his interest in the story, and its fictional content. Although Myers’ research is evident, his omission of a specific tribe’s and Creator’s names within the story are problematic, as they reinforce a limited and monolithic view of Native Americans.
Well-meaning but flawed. (bibliography) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-937786-39-7
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Wisdom Tales
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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