Bootman delivers a reimagined “Pied Piper of Hamelin,” set in 1940s Harlem. Rats run amok; the city’s powerless against them. When a mysterious man with an enchanted steel drum offers to eradicate the rats for $1,000,000, the desperate mayor agrees. The Pan Man lures the rats onto a barge. When, as in Browning’s poem (credited in an author’s note), the mayor reneges, the musician retaliates. Instead of leading children away, however, he enchants the whole populace—they dance unceasingly to his tunes. When the mayor pays up, the Pan Man releases all but him from the spell, exacting a personal revenge that will strike an odd chord for those unfamiliar with the poem. The best pictures are the jitterbugging dance scenes, invigorated by popular cultural imagery of the day. The teeming, almost anthropomorphized rats dominating the first two spreads create a disequilibrium never quite redeemed by the narrative and illustrations, which don’t achieve the symbiotic interplay that characterizes more successful work—including the illustrator’s own, in such books as Almost to Freedom, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson (2003). (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8225-9026-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2009
Seventeen brief poems by such familiar writers as Dorothy Aldis, Rachel Field, and Harry Behn, each presented on a delicate double-spread watercolor depicting young children enjoying the wet weather. The poems occasionally include a glint of humor (``I fell into a river once/ But this is even better''—Marchette Chute); mostly, their forte is simple but deftly evocative words (``How brave a ladybug must be!/ Each drop of rain is big as she./ Can you imagine what you'd do/ if raindrops fell as big as you?''—Aileen Fisher). Kandoian's beautifully understated art is as lyrical as the language. Index. (Poetry/Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-395-59967-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1992
A gentle, poetic good-night book, with parents and children of various ethnic groups—plus 16 different, slightly anthropomorphic animals—settling down to sleep. ``Tired Chinese golden monkeys huddle and cuddle for comfort. They gather together wrapping their arms around each other, and stay that way for a long sleepy-time hug.'' In her charming illustrations, Owens (The Caribou Alphabet, 1988) uses blue, green, and tan, night washed and fluid, to enhance the text's warm, relaxed tone. A soothing, entrancing lullaby, with some intriguing (if undocumented) animal facts. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-8050-1710-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1992
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