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NIKOLAI GOGOL'S THE NOSE

Name: NIKOLAI GOGOL'S THE NOSE
Author: Catherine Cowan
ISBN: 0-688-10464-9

adapted by Catherine Cowan & illustrated by Kevin Hawkes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1994

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Tucking into his morning loaf, Ivan the barber discovers the nose of the Deputy Inspector of Reindeer. Not wanting trouble, Ivan lets the offending item slip from his fingers and into the river while crossing a bridge on the way to his shop. Elsewhere, the Deputy Inspector of Reindeer awakes to a noseless mug. On his way to the police, the Deputy Inspector happens to notice his nose riding by in an open carriage, all done out in finery, clearly putting on airs. He confronts the nose, but the nose denies any connection. Later that night, a policeman retrieves the Deputy Inspector's nose, which, despite some hesitation, returns to its former lodging. It is too much to expect the punch of the original, but a bit more of the story's satirical edge could have been captured by Cowan. What emerges is a whimsical little number, humorous and entertaining, with all the subversive pungency gone. Hawkes's acrylics are nice and bright, often giving a fish-eyed loopiness to the scenes, and deftly summon the Russian townscape. Any book that inspires children to read Gogol (as this one does), and that doesn't butcher the original in the process (as this one doesn't), is well worth the asking price. (Picture book. 5+)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-688-10464-9

Page Count: 24

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FRIEND THE PIANO
by Catherine Cowan & illustrated by Kevin Hawkes

- BOOK REVIEW
MY LIFE WITH THE WAVE
by Octavio Paz & illustrated by Mark Buehner & translated by Catherine Cowan

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RAPUNZEL

adapted by Rachel Isadora & illustrated by Rachel Isadora ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2008

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Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
DO I HAVE TO WEAR A COAT?
by Rachel Isadora ; illustrated by Rachel Isadora

- BOOK REVIEW
MY DOG LAUGHS
by Rachel Isadora ; illustrated by Rachel Isadora

- BOOK REVIEW
I JUST WANT TO SAY GOOD NIGHT
by Rachel Isadora ; illustrated by Rachel Isadora

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A YEAR DOWN YONDER

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

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Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”

This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)