by David Macaulay & illustrated by David Macaulay ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 2002
Macaulay (Building Big, not reviewed, etc.), master of multiple perspectives, takes a tender turn in his latest work, set upon the stucco of a venerable old church. Angelo, an aging, all-business artisan, is inspecting every nook and cranny of each and every ledge when he happens upon a frail descendant of one of the “generations of thoughtless pigeons” who have besmirched the beautiful building facade he is to restore. Angelo is determined to dispose of this nuisance, just as soon as she is restored to some semblance of strength. Grudgingly, but with great care, he creates a sort of Rube Goldberg clinic for the bird, who thrives on Angelo’s attention and quickly becomes his constant companion. The unlikely friendship formed between the solitary stucco artist and Sylvia, a sort of fine-feathered vaudevillian, seems to fill chinks and crannies of a very different kind. All about accommodation and alternating points of view, this story is a carefully constructed balance of sympathy and silliness. Macaulay’s trusty technical pen is tempered with a palette of earthen watercolors kissed with golden ochre. Angelo’s rounded countenance and the pastoral aspects of his world are conveyed with a naïve fluidity in contrast to the edges and angles of Macaulay’s more architectural renderings. Tile-shaped text boxes are aptly placed to provide the proper vantage point from which to read the pictures. From the dizzying heights of stories-high scaffolding to the worn stones of the local piazza, from Sylvia’s sideshow shenanigans to the intimate glimpse into hard-working Angelo’s lonely life, this up-close-and-personal, touching tale may be just as important as Cathedral, if not as grand. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: April 30, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-16826-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2002
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by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
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adapted by Pete Seeger & illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin
by Amy Krouse Rosenthal ; illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2015
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Christy Webster ; illustrated by Brigette Barrager & Chiara Fiorentino
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by Tom Lichtenheld & Amy Krouse Rosenthal ; illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
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by Amy Krouse Rosenthal ; illustrated by Mike Yamada
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