Paratore’s tale of a skeptical child who learns to believe founders on art from an illustrator who doesn’t seem to have read it. Raised to trust only in the empirical method, young Prudence pooh-poohs the folk tales her new teacher, “Miss Beatrix Bliss, F.G.” reads in class, as well as the admonitory notes and postcards she keeps receiving from the likes of “L.R. Hood,” and “Big B.W. and the Oinks.” Once she realizes that she’s alienated her friends, though, she changes her tune, proclaiming that fairy tales are real. Her proof? The “Fairy Tale Forest” postmarks on her mail—but in Petrosino’s cartoon scenes, those cards are plainly visible, and plainly have no postmarks (or mailing addresses, for that matter) at all. Prudence may believe, but readers won’t. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-689-86274-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2004
Folklorist White's first picture book—a simply told, deliciously gruesome tale of a witch stalking two succulent children—will rivet young readers. When their father leaves the baobab treehouse to go fishing, he warns the two not to lower the rope ladder until he calls. Hearing this, a passing witch sticks her tongue into a hill of biting ants to disguise her voice; when that doesn't work, she puts it into a nest of scorpions. Finally, she tricks a dinner invitation out of the father, but the clever daughter (who has seen through all her subterfuges) hides a fishhook in her food. Krîmer's loose-jointed, brightly clad figures framed in African motifs give the story a theatrical look. The witch (cat's eyes, fixed, toothy grin, swollen tongue) is suitably frightful; at her death, all the children she's ever eaten come back to life and fill the treehouse with happy babble. A strong debut for both author and illustrator. No source or comments on the adaption are given. (Folklore/Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 15, 1994
ISBN: 0-671-79818-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1994
When lonely Crocodile Gene advertises for friends in the paper, a nondescript animal named Floptop and a little girl named Gail respond. The three of them are so satisfied with their newly formed friendship, they decide to match up all the lonely souls in the world. It's no easy task finding companions for characters as lacking in personality as the ones presented by Uspensky (The Little Warranty People, p. 709, etc.). A monkey who has difficulty talking, a bully who is failing in school, and a giraffe who loses friends in holes are among the many applicants. Floptop suggests building a ``House of Friendship'' where everyone can come make friends, and, despite the interference of the crotchety old hag, Fedora, and her pet rat, the edifice is completed and the friendship problem resolved. Everyone finds a suitable partner. Although this Russian story deals with comradeship, its flat characters and flagging plot make it an imperfect companion for the solitary reader. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-82062-0
Page Count: 124
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
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