Nevertheless, the love and respect shown between Kioko and his grandfather is both universal and sweetly evident.
A modern Kenyan folktale about the colorful vans that carry people, animals and supplies underpins a story about Kioko, an astute but literal-minded boy, and his grandfather.
While the pair take a ride on the boy’s fifth birthday, Kioko asks why dogs run after matatus. Grandfather uses the opportunity to tell a story about why dogs chase after, sheep ignore and goats run away from the vans. Kioko interrupts his grandfather when confronted with silly ideas like animals talking and riding matatus, but as his grandfather describes a ride during which the dog never got his proper change, a sheep paid his fare exactly and a goat ran off without paying at all, the boy begins to understand both animal and human behavior. The boy asks his grandfather for a cash birthday present and then hands it to the conductor. He maturely tells the man that he is paying for the fare-beating goat, but in return, the conductor must give the dog back his money. Oil paintings provide realistic details of contemporary rural Kenya but include a few spreads in which the animals humorously take on anthropomorphic characteristics. The author’s note, drawing upon his Kenyan experiences, will amuse adults, but the full point of the story may elude youngsters, who are likely to be just as literal-minded as Kioko.
Nevertheless, the love and respect shown between Kioko and his grandfather is both universal and sweetly evident. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55469-301-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work.
A young spinach hater becomes a spinach lover after she has to grow her own in a class garden.
Unable to trade away the seed packet she gets from her teacher for tomatoes, cukes or anything else more palatable, Sylvia reluctantly plants and nurtures a pot of the despised veggie then transplants it outside in early spring. By the end of school, only the plot’s lettuce, radishes and spinach are actually ready to eat (talk about a badly designed class project!)—and Sylvia, once she nerves herself to take a nibble, discovers that the stuff is “not bad.” She brings home an armful and enjoys it from then on in every dish: “And that was the summer Sylvia Spivens said yes to spinach.” Raff uses unlined brushwork to give her simple cartoon illustrations a pleasantly freehand, airy look, and though Pryor skips over the (literally, for spinach) gritty details in both the story and an afterword, she does cover gardening basics in a simple and encouraging way.
Very young gardeners will need more information, but for certain picky eaters, the suggested strategy just might work. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9836615-1-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Readers to Eaters
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978
ISBN: 0689845049
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978
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