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WILL ROGERS

Name: WILL ROGERS
Author: Debbie Dadey
ISBN: 0-8027-8681-2

LARGER THAN LIFE

by Debbie Dadey ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1999

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PLB 0-8027-8682-0 Will Rogers’s legend may have faded a bit over time, so Dadey toils to bring him back into the young public’s eye, mixing—just as she did in Shooting Star (1997)—real episodes with wildly preposterous events to amplify his persona. It’s true that he was the all-American, kind-hearted, spirit-lifting, lasso-tossing gentleman-cowboy; diminished in the hubbub here is his common decency, love for children, and gift for simple acts of kindness—Rogers was an artist when it came to modesty and gestures without fanfare. Dadey irons her story out in an afterword, separating the truth from the tall tale. Goto’s illustrations are great, beefy, apple-polished productions in keeping with the tone of the story, usually catching a grinning Rogers from below to give him the look of a colossus. If even a smidgen of the truth of Rogers’s goodness comes through, Dadey’s and Goto’s efforts have not been in vain. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: March 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-8027-8681-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 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)