Wearing a deliberate African patina, this refreshing collection of 16 Aesop fables takes place in the South African veld, giving these timeless moral tales a visual and verbal facelift.
In opening remarks, Naidoo theorizes Aesop originated from Africa, accounting for a prevalence of African animals in his fables and a penchant for the moral lessons characteristic of African folktales. Cultivating this African flavor, Naidoo sprinkles her text with native words and phrases such as “mealie” (corn) and “mampara” (fool), providing footnote translations when appropriate. In typical Aesop fashion, animals serve as lead characters, but Naidoo adds to the African texture by populating the tales with distinctive African animals like zebras, jackals, braks (mongrel dogs), rinkhals (spitting cobra), snake eagles, klipspringer (small antelope) and kudu (large grey antelope). Despite the African twist, the single-action narrative of each fable preserves the impersonal moral tone of the originals, emphasizing discretion (“The Old Lion”), prudence (“The Lion and the Warthog”), moderation (“The Eagle and the Tortoise”) and forethought (“The Grasshopper and the Ants”). Primitive, whimsical watercolor-and-pencil illustrations preserve the African theme. Decorative borders set off each fable, while full-page illustrations capture the drama, foolishness or humor with special focus on the droll antics and expressions of the animal characters. A delightful new rendition of some old favorites. (Fables. 5-11)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84780-007-7
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Young readers will enjoy this glimpse of Jewish immigrant life.
A little fish gets a big break!
Shirley’s immigrant family comes to the United States and opens a new store. However, there is a problem: They cannot sell the gefilte fish, a family specialty, to the customers in their store’s neighborhood. Pretty soon the stuffed fish dish piles up, and Shirley’s parents lament that they might be eating it forever if they cannot sell some soon. Shirley takes it upon herself to try her best to move gefilte-units. Even though Mama says she is too little to help, one day, when the other adults are busy, Shirley gets the opportunity to step in—and, with a very creative solution, she saves the day. After all, it’s Shirley’s store, too. The story, which appears to take place around the turn of the 19th century, is a whole family undertaking, with Jewish food and culture at the center. Illustrations, created with pencil sketches that were overdrawn and digitally colored, use plenty of white space, and a sense of warmth pervades the narrative. Yiddish words—like farmisht and keppele—dot the pages and are listed in a helpful glossary that explains that Yiddish was spoken by many Eastern European Jews. Shirley and her family are light-skinned; theirs is a diverse community. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Young readers will enjoy this glimpse of Jewish immigrant life. (recipe for gefilte fish) (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64614-126-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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