Stimpson’s money-can’t-buy-happiness moral goes down easily with the help of his wonderfully atmospheric artwork.
Stimpson’s authorial debut is a remaking of the timeless fairy tale that includes both a wonderfully fleshed-out city circa the 1930s and an ending that is happy for everyone.
Jack’s Fast Food is a hopping café run by Jack and his mother out of an old, broken-down burger truck. But when the new overpass closes the street out front, Jack and his mom fall on hard times. Per tradition, Jack spends their last coins on a can of magic baked beans, which his furious mother hurls outside. In the morning, Jack climbs the cans-of-beans–festooned beanstalk to find a friendly but lonely giant busily counting his money, “Fee-Fi-Fo-Fummy, / I’m always counting money. / Be it silver or be it gold, / It’ll make me happy— / Or so I’m told.” Jack, the giant, the magic radio and the giant chicken all bond over lunch, but a beanstalk mishap extends their visit indefinitely while opening a whole new chapter for the Baked Beanstalk Café. As in The Polar Express, Stimpson’s artwork masterfully evokes both the mood and setting of the story. Retro styling, colors and type all work together to convey an old-time, urban feel to the digital illustrations, which portray a world where suits and dresses are the dress code (both incomplete without a hat), and the streets are filled with classic cars.
Stimpson’s money-can’t-buy-happiness moral goes down easily with the help of his wonderfully atmospheric artwork. (Picture book. 3-9)Pub Date: July 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5563-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012
Porte and Cannon previously collaborated on Tale of a Tadpole (1997); this time their focus is on a different sort of tiny creature: orange ants, who play an important role in an original tale set in ancient China. Ma Jiang is a little girl from a small village who lives with her parents, older brothers, and baby brother, Bao. Her father and brothers keep busy climbing trees to capture nests of orange ants, used by orange growers to keep pests away from the fruit. Jiang’s mother sells the ants in the market while Jiang cares for her baby brother. When her father and older brothers are called away to fight in a war (and work on the Great Wall), Jiang and her mother have no ants to sell, and they must struggle to survive on the small amount her mother can earn selling woven bags and baskets. Jiang and little Bao accidentally discover that all ants like honey, and Jiang devises a new way to trap the orange ants using honey and one of her mother’s woven bags, thus restoring her family’s finances. The family is reunited when her father and brothers return in time to celebrate the New Year’s festival with a traditional feast. Porte’s story is well-written and accurately researched (source notes appended), but Cannon’s expressive illustrations done in watercolor, gouache, and sepia ink take center stage. Teachers of kindergarten through third grade will find this an interesting story to integrate into thematic studies of ants, insects in general, or China. A fascinating story to read for the Chinese New Year, too, perhaps with a slice of orange for each young listener. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-531-30241-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
A children's story by the great storyteller, set in the wintry scenes of a Russian village. Philipok wants to go to school so badly that he puts on his hat and starts to follow his big brother right out the door. His mother gently tells him that he is too young and must stay home. Undeterred, he decides to take matters into his own hands and, one morning when no one is looking, sneaks out of the house and heads across the village to school. On the school’s doorstep, he loses his nerve, but is shooed in by a passing grown-up. Once inside, he is intimidated by the noise and activity in the room full of children. Challenged, he shows off his knowledge and demonstrates that he (more or less) knows the alphabet. To his utter delight, the teacher declares that Philipok is indeed ready for school and can join the other children in the classroom. Spirin’s illustrations are less sophisticated than usual, but that makes this book all the more accessible to younger children. While the palette is subtle, with many browns and grays, there are touches of gold—the church steeple, the boy’s hair—and the children’s faces are sweet and appealing. No one can paint snow and fur like Spirin, and there are lovely touches of color, including the quilt on the bed and the flowers on the shawls the women wear. The double-paged spread that shows Philipok playing with his colorful toys and book is especially inviting. The language is uninspired and the story slight, but the theme will appeal, especially to those who can’t wait to be grown enough to begin the same activities as their older siblings. All will admire Philipok’s bravery in traveling alone across the sometimes scary village. Not as substantial a story as Kashtanka, the Chekhov story also illustrated by Spirin, but certainly not without its charms. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-399-23482-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2000
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