A charming, heartfelt Christmas tale.
A dyslexic boy finds refuge from a troubled life in a rich fantasy world–that may not be entirely unreal–in this winsome Korean War–era children’s fable.
Eight-year-old Jake Jennings can hardly believe it when a kindly doctor calls his newly diagnosed dyslexia “a gift”: Printed words scramble before his baffled eyes, he’s the butt of schoolyard taunts, and he may be held back for yet a third year in second grade because of his slow reading. Home isn’t much more cheerful. Jake’s dad is presumed dead after his plane is shot down over North Korea, and his mom spends her evenings weeping over a homemade shrine to her lost husband. In addition to a talent for intuitive leaps, Jake’s slightly off-kilter mind does indeed give him a compensatory gift in the form of deep, consoling reveries. Along with his Buck Rogers daydreams, he festoons the attic with Yuletide decorations and imagines that every day is Christmas, the longed-for season of festivity and respite from the hell that is school. One day, he deciphers a mysterious message inscribed on a statuette of a gnome called Old Ebenezer and finds himself drawn into a phantasmagorical world tour of the embattled Christmas spirit, one that gives him an improbable hope that his father is alive. The vision–or was it just a dream?–brings to a head the conflict in Jake between the need to adjust to reality and the pull of wishful thinking. Jake’s story is a bit sentimental, but doesn’t cross the line into bathos. Clausen (Ghost Lover, 1982) nicely evokes his struggle with dyslexia and loneliness, and the longing he feels, like many people, for a little holiday magic to repair a hopelessly broken family.
A charming, heartfelt Christmas tale.Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-595-46507-1
Page Count: 99
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
In a snowbound Swiss village, Matti figures it’s a good day to make a gingerbread man. He and his mother mix a batch of gingerbread and tuck it in the oven, but Matti is too impatient to wait ten minutes without peeking. When he opens the door, out pops a gingerbread baby, taunting the familiar refrain, “Catch me if you can.” The brash imp races all over the village, teasing animals and tweaking the noses of the citizenry, until there is a fair crowd on his heels intent on giving him a drubbing. Always he remains just out of reach as he races over the winterscape, beautifully rendered with elegant countryside and architectural details by Brett. All the while, Matti is busy back home, building a gingerbread house to entice the nervy cookie to safe harbor. It works, too, and Matti is able to spirit the gingerbread baby away from the mob. The mischief-maker may be a brat, but the gingerbread cookie is also the agent of good cheer, and Brett allows that spirit to run free on these pages. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23444-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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