A vivid mix of local color and tongue-in-cheek wit, albeit with loud sour notes.
From a Labrador native, homespun “recitations” in equally homespun rhyme.
Written for oral performance (most are available as recordings) and easy to read aloud despite plenty of regional jargon, these 13 original yarns feature big dollops of wry humor. There’s fog thick enough to eat (“Mother used to dice it with pork fat and onions, / Or she’d mix it with mustard as a poultice for bunions”); the horrific consequences of trying to unclog a septic tank using a pump fitted with an old boat motor; and the experiences of a “Man of La Manche,” who is abducted not by aliens but Capt. Kirk, attempting to beam a moose up to the Enterprise. Recurring characters include 90-year-old “Super Nan,” who vanquishes a bullying polar bear at Bingo, and Uncle Jim Buckle. Paddon trips hard over the edges of good taste in “Berries,” a violent tale of a berry-picking war during which Jim takes a second wife, “a woman best described as Atilla the Hen,” after his first is killed by a land mine—but even that one comes to an uproarious climax, followed by an amicable resolution: “I guess blood’s…even thicker than jam.” It’s hard to tell from the small, roughly drawn figures in Major’s appropriately sober vignettes, but the (human) cast is likely all white. The glossary is extensive and essential for readers outside of Newfoundland and Labrador.
A vivid mix of local color and tongue-in-cheek wit, albeit with loud sour notes. (Verse tales. 11-15)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-927917-15-2
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Running the Goat
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bottom line: Stimulating for math geeks and proto–math geeks, more confusing than enlightening for the rest of us.
This breezy look at the tools, techniques, uses and universality of mathematics doesn’t add up to more than a muddle.
Patel begins by nonsensically arguing that since math is dependent on formal proofs and “beauty” (rather than evidence and experiments, which “don’t count for much”; take that, Galileo!), it’s not a science but “more like an art.” The author proceeds, however, to demonstrate the opposite by tracing its development through history as a tool for measurements and calculations that have promoted our understanding of the physical universe. Following opening chapters introducing number systems, primes, sets, zero and infinity, he whirls past types and uses of graphs and tessellations, imaginary numbers, algorithms, chaos theory, Newton’s laws of motion and more in single-topic spreads crowded with cartoon illustrations and boxed passages in high-contrast colors. Along with careless errors, such as twice misspelling Prussia’s capital and equating yards with meters in a measurement, the author delivers minidisquisitions on Menger sponges, Euler’s number and other curiosities that are unhelpfully vague, dizzyingly technical or both. Furthermore, on different pages he offers different etymologies for the term “mathematics,” and one of the several “Try this at home” demonstrations contradicts an adjacent claim that humans are bilaterally symmetrical.
Bottom line: Stimulating for math geeks and proto–math geeks, more confusing than enlightening for the rest of us. (glossary, perfunctory index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)Pub Date: July 30, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7534-7072-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
An enlightening peek behind the curtain for Nancy Drew fans.
“There is no Carolyn Keene. There never was.” But as the author of 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, Mildred Wirt Benson came closer than anyone else.
Digging into archives and the memories of surviving acquaintances as well as published histories, Rubini spins an account of Benson’s long and active life that throws a strong light on the source of Nancy Drew’s own admirably intrepid and independent spirit. The author briefly mentions updated editions of the original Nancy Drews and other publication details, but she largely steers clear of retold plotlines and literary analyses to focus on biographical details. These include Benson’s early years in Iowa and first publication at 13 (in St. Nicholas Magazine), two marriages, and twin careers as a local journalist and, under a variety of names, a writer of over 130 children’s titles. Family snapshots, old cover images, and side notes on topics from Nancy Drew trivia to a brownie recipe offer occasional distractions. More significantly, a quick history of the Stratemeyer Syndicate sheds light on the ins and outs of series ghostwriting, highlighted by the dramatic 1980 courtroom denouement (“I thought that you were dead”) that led at last to public recognition of Benson’s achievements.
An enlightening peek behind the curtain for Nancy Drew fans. (timeline, publication list, glossary, endnotes, bibliography) (Biography. 11-14)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8214-2183-3
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Ohio Univ.
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
