In a work subtitled ``Around the World on the Night Before Christmas,'' Harness (The Amazing Impossible Erie Canal, p. 469, etc.) chooses a moment in history from which to launch a provocative journey. It's Christmas Eve, 1822, and Clement C. Moore has just gathered his family to hear his new poem, ``A Visit from Saint Nicholas.'' But what was happening in other parts of the globe that night? Beethoven is out for a ramble, the Grimm brothers regale each other with stories, France's new king sits down for dinner ``with the noble and the knighted. NapolÇon's dead. He's not invited.'' The rhyming text is lively and humorous, but the notion of simultaneity comes to life in pen-and-ink illustrations in which events swarm over pages; each spread of a new location explodes with incidentals that refer back to the main drawing. (Picture book. 5-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-689-80344-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995
At ``Step 2'' in the useful ``Step into Reading'' series: an admirably clear, well-balanced presentation that centers on wolves' habits and pack structure. Milton also addresses their endangered status, as well as their place in fantasy, folklore, and the popular imagination. Attractive realistic watercolors on almost every page. Top-notch: concise, but remarkably extensive in its coverage. A real bargain. (Nonfiction/Easy reader. 6-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-679-91052-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
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
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