Honey, an ingenuous-looking golden retriever bred in San Rafael, California, to be a Guide Dog for the Blind, spends her early months as a 4-H project for nine-year-old Amy, and then returns to Guide Dogs to complete her training and placement—in her case, with Sister Anne Gelles, a teacher. In vivid, appealing color photos and clear, well detailed text, an excellent presentation of a perennially interesting subject. (Nonfiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-15-232657-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Again, Hutton's verbal and visual simplicity will evoke complex responses. In a brief retelling of Troy's fall, he offers a subtle comment on the whole subject of war: Paris, fleeing with Helen (they look more like dancers than fugitives), looks out at the reader with a knowing Archaic smile that reappears on the faces of the serpents as they crush the life out of Laocoîn and his sons, and again on the huge, round-bellied horse. Some of the Trojans' clothing has a modern look, and the text closes on an ironic note—the horse towers over the ruined city, but ``Everyone had forgotten Paris and Helen, who had started it all.'' Occasionally, the spareness of the illustrations backfires—in one scene the Trojans are pulling the horse toward a gate that looks small rather than distant—but the focus of the action is always plain, even when the human figures are dwarfed by the city walls. A thoughtful, multilayered introduction to this ancient tale. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: March 31, 1992
ISBN: 0-689-50542-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1992
An imaginatively silly premise is spun into an entertaining spoof by an accomplished illustrator and an author new to children's books. Three cowboys (one female) and a furry black dog catch ``one'' on their ``first day out.'' The one, a chunky geometric numeral, fights back with its spindly arms and legs and bares its teeth in a fierce grimace, but is duly corralled to be photographed and admired. Then, in a comic variant of Picasso's Guernica, a whole herd of ones (different sizes and colors but recognizably of the same species) are rounded up to join the first. In the night, the tall fuchsia one escapes; while his captors are out looking for him, the rest undergo an unexpected but logical transformation. It's sort of a one-joke story; on the other hand, the amusingly clever text effectively draws attention to the possible ambiguity of even the simplest of words, while Zimmer's realizations of the preposterous events are colorful, authoritatively drawn, and wonderfully funny. A novel idea, developed with high style and wit. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: March 23, 1992
ISBN: 0-395-56437-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1992
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