by Bonnie Toews John Christiansen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 4, 2015
An approachable grandparent voice guides students interested in African animals, mountain climbing, and travel, with great...
Recalling their trip to Tanzania, two grandparents offer photos and a collection of facts about animals on safari, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, and the plight of Tanzanian orphans.
Some grandparents are homebodies; others travel the world and bring home pictures. Christiansen and Toews are the second kind. Here, combining their travel photos with reminiscences and factual data, they share memories of their trip to Kenya, Nairobi, and mostly Tanzania. The story is broken down into three sections: the safari, Christiansen’s journey up Mount Kilimanjaro, and the couple’s experiences at Kilimanjaro Orphanage Center. The book begins with an introduction that uses colonialist language: “Here we meet simple, loving, peaceful people with no apparent racial bias. The soulful eyes and bright smiles of Tanzanian children remind us of an innocence lost in our fast-paced technological world of today. Yet, ironically, even in the primitive villages of the Maasai tribe, we see teenagers talking into cell phones.” The repeated use of the word “primitive” may also grate on some parents and teachers. The adventure begins as Toews and Christiansen, nicknamed Bibi and Babu (“grandma” and “grandpa” in Swahili) by their safari driver/guide, spend time in a Maasai village where Christiansen asked question after question and performed admirably in a Maasai ceremony welcoming outsiders. The couple and their tour group headed out into the Serengeti, where they saw all sorts of wildlife. The pictures in this section are the book’s greatest draw: young readers will fawn over the tiny baby blue monkey, admire the giraffes, and be worried at how close the lions were to the Land Cruisers. (Some of the images are listed in the frontmatter as stock photography, but most are the authors’ travel photos.) After the safari, Christiansen journeyed to the peak of Kilimanjaro; his photographs dominate this section, accompanied by very little text. The final section introduces children of the Kilimanjaro Orphanage Centre, praising their gratitude while discussing the challenges the orphanage faces in caring for them. The book’s layout, in columns, is occasionally made strange due to photo placement, so it’s sometimes hard to follow the flow of the text down one column and up through the next; at least one image is strangely edited. The book wavers from educational to conversational—much like a conversation with grandparents—and thus lands indecisively between being a classroom aid and a memoir.
An approachable grandparent voice guides students interested in African animals, mountain climbing, and travel, with great pictures to match.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-940145-46-4
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Whistler House Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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