THE DREAM FACTORY STARRING ANNA AND HENRY

Name: THE DREAM FACTORY STARRING ANNA AND HENRY
Author: Bjorn Sortland
ISBN: 0-87614-009-6

by Bjorn Sortland & illustrated by Lars Elling & translated by Emily Virginia Christianson & Robert Hedin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

bookshelf

Having flung their intrepid young characters through breakneck homages to Art (Anna’s Art Adventure, 1999) and Literature (The Story in Search of a Story, 1999), Sortland and Elling now plunge them into a whirl of scenes from classic cinema. As in the previous tales, it’s an allusive landscape that is traversed. Here, Max Schreck (“Nosferatu”) rears up next to a poster of Al Jolson in blackface; there, a breathless ride on Ben-Hur’s chariot is followed by encounters with Tarzan, King Kong, a soggy singer in the rain, and finally a sad old man who persuades Anna and Henry to trade their newest Christmas present, a sled (“Rosebud”), for a snow globe. The references are identified and described at the end, but not in enough detail to spark much interest in child readers, who will most likely be familiar only with Disney’s Alice in Wonderland and, perhaps, the original King Kong, certainly not The Seven Samurai or Potemkin. Older film buffs will recognize both scenes and stars, even though Elling’s dark, indistinct figures tend toward caricature. Like the previous tours, this is more about name-dropping than real appreciation. (Picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-87614-009-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Carolrhoda

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

bookshelf

RIVER STORY

by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2000

bookshelf

Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: June 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
CELEBRITY CAT
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey

- BOOK REVIEW
GOLD QUEST
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Stephen Biesty

- BOOK REVIEW
STEPHEN BIESTY’S CASTLES
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Stephen Biesty

bookshelf

BOOKMARKS ARE PEOPLE TOO!

From the Here's Hank series , Vol. 1

by Henry Winkler ; Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Scott Garrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2014

An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.

bookshelf

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)