The Paraskevases (Gracie Graves and the Kids from Room 402, 1995, etc.) take readers on another foray into bizzaroland. At midnight, a young boy stands on a station platform, far from the warm precincts of his bed. A train awaits him, but his fellow passengers are a very strange assortment—blockheads, devilish types, extraterrestrials, creatures right out of an intergalactic bistro. Above the din, ever so faintly, the boy hears the train's sinister warning: ``Never coming, never coming, never coming back.'' In the dining car, he runs across another humanoid, Cecil (``I know my onions'') Bunions, a private eye. Bunions, hearing the train's mad refrain, fashions an elegant escape for the boy. The narrator bumps into Bunions a couple of weeks later and is never sure whether he's had a dream or a magical mystery tour. This piece of artful entertainment has plenty going for it—a touch of the forbidden (the boy is led to the station by a stranger), hair-raising illustrations that are ghoulish and surreal, a tone long on irony. The rhyming is imperfect, but it may not matter: This is not a book to read at bedtime. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-292884-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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