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IN THE MOONLIGHT MIST

Name: IN THE MOONLIGHT MIST
Author: Daniel San Souci
ISBN: 1-56397-754-0

A KOREAN TALE

adapted by Daniel San Souci ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1999

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A tender and inspirational retelling of a magical Korean tale of goodness and sacrifice. When a young woodcutter saves a deer from a hunter, the deer offers to grant him a wish. The woodcutter wants a loving wife and family more than anything, but believes he is too poor to marry. The enchanted deer grants him a heavenly maiden of a wife and before long the happy couple is blessed with a child. But soon, homesick and seduced by the heavens, the wife and child return to life among the stars, leaving the poor woodcutter earthbound and alone. The deer takes sympathy on the woodcutter and offers him a passage to the heavens, which he gives instead to his ailing, elderly mother. The gods finally step in, reuniting the selfless man with his entire family in paradise. San Souci’s retelling is captivating, but Neilan’s vibrant use of line and emotional expressions furnish the enchantment. (Picture book/folklore. 5-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999

ISBN: 1-56397-754-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Boyds Mills

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE LITTLEST MATRYOSHKA

by Corinne Demas Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

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PLB 0-7868-2125-6 As is true for Pam Conrad’s Tub People, the events in a matryoshka doll’s life depend on external manipulations and circumstances; in this case, it makes the story of a perilous journey fall somewhat flat. A set of the nesting dolls is carved in a Russian village and then sent to a toy shop in America. The outer doll, Anna, has been instructed by the maker to watch over her siblings—“Keep your sisters safe inside you”—but there is nothing she can do when the smallest doll, Nina, is accidentally brushed off the counter and unceremoniously kicked out the door. It is an odyssey in which she has absolutely no active part, nor does she have reactions, for all she possesses is a blank matryoshka face. In the meantime, a young girl who has bought the rest of the set on sale charmingly tucks a little wad of cotton into the next-to-smallest doll so she won’t feel empty. Brown’s atmospheric but docile watercolors often view the matryoshka dolls from a distance, furthering the sense that the story is about events surrounding the dolls, instead of the dolls themselves. An author’s note on the history of matryoshkas is a welcome touch. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-7868-0153-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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IN THE PALM OF DARKNESS

by Mayra Montero & translated by Edith Grossman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1997

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In The Palm Of Darkness ($21.00; May 1997; 192 pp.; 0-06-018703- 4): A Cuban writers's intensely imaginative portrait of the extremities of Haitian culture rings some fresh changes on the overfamiliar theme of intellectual arrogance humbled by its collision with ``elemental'' peasant wisdom. Montero subtly builds up a revealing contrast between Victor Griggs, a European herpetologist searching for the remaining specimens of an endangered species of amphibian, and his native guide Thierry Adrien's memories of his family's encounter with the island's ubiquitous spirits. This truly original novel is studded with surprises—not least of which is the concept of a species suddenly and entirely disappearing in a milieu where the living and the dead are known to mingle together more or less matter-of-factly. A refreshingly sophisticated treat. (Author tour)