An inconsistent but imaginative, clever tale in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.
Schwulst’s picture book portrays an African folktale about the tortoise and his shell.
Thomas the tortoise, soft and wrinkled in body, searches for shelter on a “cold, dark and stormy night.” Finding none, he seeks warmth and a nap in the morning on a rock warmed by the sun. Monkeys wake him by chattering about the lion king’s malady, from which he will surely die. Skeptical, Thomas sets out to see for himself. At the king’s camp, Thomas finds Victor the Vulture. Victor confirms the king’s grave illness and says the only cure is for the lion to consume a pile of nuts, but no one can crack them open. Edward the Elephant could do it, but he stubbornly refuses. Kindhearted Thomas gets an idea and waddles off to bring Edward to the camp. As he goes, the monkeys laugh at the idea that a “small squishy tortoise” like Thomas could make Edward do anything. Thomas says that if he does bring Edward back, they all must kneel and must call him, Thomas, king. The monkeys laugh at this joke but say they will do as Thomas asks. Thomas finds Wilma Warthog, who agrees to dig a hole, deep and wide, and fill it with the nuts. Thomas finds Edward and tells him all the animals want him to be king and that they’ve invited him to a feast. Edward immediately booms agreement and scoops Thomas up on his back for the trek to the king’s camp. The monkeys greet them, kneel and yell, “All hail the King.” Edward sticks out his chest, boasting and strutting, until he falls into the hole, where he stomps and stomps until all the nuts are crushed and made into a stew. The stew heals the king, and Thomas wins his protective shell. The story and characters are delightful, but the illustrations are dark and out of harmony with the optimism of Thomas’ tale. Rhyme and rhythm are used erratically, which makes for awkward reading. Confusing punctuation errors appear throughout the text.
An inconsistent but imaginative, clever tale in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479260904
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An insightful and well-intentioned, if occasionally lackluster, book on raising happy teenagers.
A creative approach to handling the teenage years.
This parenting manual uses both fiction and nonfiction to help parents navigate the trickier bits of raising teenagers. Chetty (Where Am I?, 2013), a medical practitioner in Australia, opens the book with a story about a conference of the Gods created to help these troubled children. On the first day of the convention, letters from anxious parents are read by the Gods. This fairly effective bit—the letters are relatable and written realistically—conveys stories about the traps in which adolescents can get caught: drugs, cutting, bullying, etc. The authors of these letters, mostly average parents, are clearly distraught and unsure of what to do. In turn, the Gods spend the next two days of the convention assessing the situations and offering suggestions. They essentially conclude that a lack of awareness and good communication often contribute to the breakdown between parents and children, although much of it is biological as well. That’s where readers get a taste of Chetty’s medical background and learn that adolescent brains do not fully mature until they are 25 or so, though there are certain tools that can be used to work around this. While the tools themselves are not especially new—clearing clutter from our lives, appreciating those around us, meditating, being creative and learning self-defense techniques—Chetty does take a very practical approach, which is helpful. “Look around your room,” she advises, “focus upon an item, and ask yourself, ‘Is this item important to my immediate experience?’ ” Though her language is clear and accessible, the story drags a bit, and the book in general suffers in part because its audience is not especially clear. It comes across as rather juvenile for either adults or disaffected teens. Those readers are unlikely to pick this book up and feel connected to it as a whole, although some individual chapters may be useful. In many ways, the better approach would have been to write a more straightforward parenting manual, one that doesn’t attempt to lure in older children with a fairy tale.
An insightful and well-intentioned, if occasionally lackluster, book on raising happy teenagers.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1482897555
Page Count: 62
Publisher: PartridgeIndia
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A 12-year-old boy is hired for a role in a Hollywood blockbuster but finds that making movies is less glamorous than he thought.
In this middle-grade novel, Chad Sparks is a normal 12-year-old boy living in a small town in Oregon. On a whim, he tries out as an extra in a Hollywood martial arts extravaganza, Six Ninjas Meet the Sponge, and to his surprise, he’s hired, not as an extra, but for a major part in the picture. Before you can say “Macaulay Culkin,” Chad is whisked off to Los Angeles, where he meets his co-stars and prepares for his role. Once shooting actually gets underway, Chad quickly finds that he has a lot to learn about being in the movies, such as not picking your nose when the camera is rolling. Chad, a quick study, has to contend with a jealous stunt double, a demanding star and a young co-star on whom he has a crush. The stakes spike when Chad accidentally discovers that mystery man Walter Buzzard is hatching a plot to sabotage the studio. As a character, Chad is a boy any kid would want to have as a friend. He is hardworking and resourceful. He gets himself into trouble but, just as quickly, gets himself out of it. And through him, the reader learns what goes into the making of a major motion picture, complete with navigating the warring egos of those involved with the production. Too bad that the author couldn’t make this story a little more dramatic or Chad’s plan to save the studio a little more believable.
This slender novel about the making of a Hollywood movie seems like it’s over before it really has the chance to get going.
Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1491854617
Page Count: 114
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
