A strange and provocative addition to the canon of trickster tales.
From the African savanna comes a trickster tale featuring a clever monkey and his musical bow.
Monkey finds the bow and is plucking out notes with it when Hyena comes along and accuses Monkey of robbery. This is a dilemma that must be solved by the opinionated Lion. Unfortunately, Lion has a corrupt streak and demands the bow. Monkey beseeches Lion to allow him to play it one last time. As he does, all the animals begin dancing themselves into a frenzy. Monkey plays faster and faster and is able to take advantage of the animals’ exhaustion to keep the bow for himself. The story is laden with the aggression that tends to accompany such trickster tales, in which a physically weak animal often utilizes intellect and wit to outsmart a stronger creature. This is accentuated by Grobler’s distinctively splattery and somewhat macabre illustrations. Messy lines and vigorous flourishes create a grim dreamscape. Readers will likely respond to the imagery with immense attraction or revulsion; there is little room for middle ground. Though a small note about the story indicates its South African origins, within the text a generic “Africa” setting is, unfortunately, deployed, perpetuating an image of the continent in which all that exists are wilderness and the animals that inhabit it. A note on the instrument follows.
A strange and provocative addition to the canon of trickster tales. (Picture book/folktale. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-91095-975-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Otter-Barry
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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