Jay’s (Swimming Lessons, 1998) sassy Jane returns, coping with a familiar childhood dilemma with her usual verve. Unable to fathom why her parents and grandmother are so excited about her first loose tooth, Jane is appalled by their tales of a tooth fairy who retrieves children’s teeth left under their pillows. Harboring nostalgic feelings for her wayward tooth, Jane endeavors to prevent it from falling out, attempting to brush it until it’s stronger. Alas, all the extra brushing hastens the inevitable outcome. However, Jane relinquishes her tooth to the tooth fairy with plenty of panache, gussying it up with paint and glitter. Jay’s writing is snappy and gleefully irreverent, with Jane providing a running commentary on everything from Grandma’s false teeth (after observing Grandma removing her wig and dentures, Jane keeps a wary eye on her to make sure she doesn’t remove any other appendages) to the nefarious activities of the tooth fairy. “If I went around pulling out people’s teeth, I would probably have to go to jail. I know this because I tried pulling out Jimmy’s tooth during naptime, and I had to sit in the corner all through recess.” The wry humor is an engaging blend of child-like literalness coupled with a keen sense of the absurd, allowing readers to deflate their anxiety over this milestone with laughter. Osiecki’s saw-toothed illustrations adeptly capture Jane’s persona; the pigtailed Jane, sporting snazzy spectacles, is as delightfully unique in the pictures as she is in the story. Lettering is set in Fontesque and small pictures are plunked into the text giving that a rollicking look as well. A super combination. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-87358-769-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rising Moon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
Pretty, though as condensations go, less Wonder-full than Robert Sabuda’s pop-up Alice (2003) or the digital Alicewinks...
A much-abridged version of the classic’s first five chapters, dressed up with large and properly surreal illustrations.
Rhatigan and Nurnberg retain “Curiouser and curiouser!” and other select bits of the original while recasting the narrative in various sizes of type and a modern-sounding idiom: “Tiny Alice needed something special to eat to get back to her regular girl size.” They take Carroll’s bemused young explorer past initial ups and downs and her encounter with a certain (here, nonsmoking) Blue Caterpillar. Looking more to Disney than Tenniel, Puybaret casts Alice as a slender figure with flyaway corn-silk hair and big, blue, widely spaced eyes posing with balletic grace against broadly airbrushed backdrops. Leafless trees and barren hills give Wonderland an open, autumnal look. The odd vegetation adds an otherworldly tone, and compact houses and residents from the White Rabbit and the Dodo to occasional troupes of mice or other small creatures in circus dress are depicted with precise, lapidary polish. A marginally relevant endpaper map (partly blocked by the flaps) leads down the River of Tears, past a turnoff for a Bathroom and on toward “the Tea Party.”
Pretty, though as condensations go, less Wonder-full than Robert Sabuda’s pop-up Alice (2003) or the digital Alicewinks (2013). (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62354-049-4
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Charmed by her new baby brother, Elizabeti decides that she wants a baby of her own; she picks up a smooth rock, names it Eva and washes, feeds, and changes her, and carries her about in her cloth kanga. Hale dresses Elizabeti and her family in modern, brightly patterned clothing that practically glows against the earth-toned, sketchily defined Tanzanian village in which this is set. Although Eva appears a bit too large for Elizabeti to handle as easily as she does, the illustrations reflect the story’s simplicity; accompanied by an attentive hen, Elizabeti follows her indulgent mother about, mimicking each nurturing activity. The object of Elizabeti’s affection may be peculiar, but the love itself is real. Later, she rescues Eva from the fire pit, tenderly cleans her, then cradles the stone until she—Elizabeti—falls asleep. Stuve-Bodeen’s debut is quirky but believable, lightly dusted with cultural detail, and features universal emotions in an unusual setting. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-880000-70-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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