The creators of When Mama Comes Home Tonight (1998) weave another affecting tale, in which a gentle, eight-legged artist spends her last strength on a gift to a newborn baby. Though Sophie’s ingeniously patterned webs are the delight of her Mama and playmates, when she moves into a drab boarding house, its residents react to her presence with fear and disgust. Most of its residents, that is—weary and aging, Sophie finds a home and quiet welcome at last when she crawls into an expectant young mother’s yarn basket. Sophie’s webs, all finer than the finest lace, ripple with stars, flowers, and geometric patterns in Dyer’s delicately detailed watercolors. She herself cuts a stylish bohemian figure, with long, slender legs in multicolored stockings radiating from a black body topped by a flaxen-haired human head. Learning that the young woman is too poor to knit or buy a blanket, Sophie gathers strands of moonlight, wisps of night and pine, old lullabies, snowflakes, and, last of all, her own heart to create a gift that the new mother receives with “love and wonderment.” Sophie may physically resemble the proud, angry protagonist of Kate Hovey’s Arachne Speaks (2000), but her generosity of spirit gives her a very different character. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-80112-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
This may be the first appearance in a US picture book of tofu in a starring role, in a charming solo outing from the illustrator of Milly Lee’s Nim and the War Effort (1997). Mr. Kim assigns New Cat the job of patrolling his tofu factory, searching for mice. The problem is that New Cat isn’t allowed to go into the production room, which makes it the perfect escape route for a shrewd mouse that has taken up residence in the factory. One night, New Cat’s feline instinct gets the best of her, and she slips out of the office to track down the mouse. She discovers that the rodent has been chewing the electrical wires, which this night, let off enough sparks to start a fire. By accidentally tipping over a barrel of tofu, New Cat squelches the flames, the mouse takes off in a huff, and Mr. Kim has to rescue his pet from a drenching in soybeans. Choi’s tale is unique and refreshing in its setting and subject; in the pictures, she mixes soft colored surfaces with hard black lines and abrupt angles to vivid effect. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 8, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-35512-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
With a curmudgeonly rat as his reluctant tour guide, a boy explores a pet store in which all the denizens are for sale. Exotic animals abound; the selection includes a giant tortoise, pelican, platypus, skink, koala bear, and even an anteater. While the boy shops, the little rat desperately tries to convince him that he is the best bargain. “ ‘Who wants a koala that doesn’t like leaves?’ said the rat. ‘Or an anteater that won’t eat its ant? I’m not fussy! I’ll eat . . . ANYTHING!’ “ A portion of the page is missing, as if chomped by the overeager rodent. Inkpen adroitly introduces numerals 1—10; every animal is priced consecutively from 1õ for the rat up to 10õ for an entire bag of “assorted little brown creatures,” with the ultimate bargain a Komodo dragon for 25õ. Readers gain a last lesson in addition as they learn that the entire contents of the store can be had for $1.00—precisely the amount in the boy’s pocket. Colorful, detailed illustrations depict the creatures with realism. Humor, well-placed lift-up flaps and the antics of the rat conspire to make this thoroughly likable. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30130-3
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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