Children who have not yet gained a sense of irony will particularly enjoy the seemingly random but carefully delineated...
A modern master of surrealism presents an astonishing traveling circus.
A man is walking his dog along the highway at night. Coming toward them is a car pulling 10 flatbeds, each with a performance piece taking place upon it. The car is driven by the man’s cat, Pluto. The man is astonished and intrigued as he watches all the cars pass by and they then all move from the dark into the golden light of a desert mirage. It is all surreal, and Delessert is a master of visual absurdity. The human-sized cat who is driving the car looks more like a rat in cat’s clothing. The three clowns, named for Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco, sport their namesakes’ signatures: Franz is turning into a cockroach, and Eugene wears a rhinoceros’ horn. On another car, angels play chess with pieces that look familiar but not quite identifiable. The three little pigs (actually quite large) are about to cut into a wolf pie—the crust of which looks more sheeplike than anything else. A snow globe is filled with butterflies. The whole is neither dreamlike nor nightmarish but resides somewhere in that state where new words and old words and images come together and collide.
Children who have not yet gained a sense of irony will particularly enjoy the seemingly random but carefully delineated juxtaposition of image and idea. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 17, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-56846-277-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2015
A passable effort with some high points.
A young Latina girl emerges from her older sister’s shadow when her father secretly teaches her to dance the flamenco.
Lola envies everything about her older sister Clementina, from her name to her hair to her painting. While hiding in her parents’ closet one day, Lola finds her mother’s old dancing shoes. After Mami won’t divulge the shoes’ details, Lola goes to her father and discovers that her mother used to dance flamenco. Lola convinces Papi that she possesses the duende (attitude) necessary for dancing flamenco, and he agrees to teach her in secret. The two practice whenever they can, starting with rhythm and building to footwork. After their dancing feet disturb a downstairs neighbor, Lola and Papi move to the roof and continue the lessons. Papi decides to plan a surprise party for Mami’s approaching birthday party, where Lola can show off her skills. At the party, Papi saves Lola from a brief wardrobe crisis with a new dress. Lola dances for her Mami, who later joins the dance, suddenly and inexplicably attired in a flamenco dress. Readers may also be confused by the title (the word fandango never appears in the story, only in a note), as well as the shift from sibling jealousy to flamenco without return.
A passable effort with some high points. (author’s note, Spanish glossary, CD; not heard) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84686-174-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
The interplay of poetic and visual metaphor makes for a striking presentation; adults who can appreciate and chant the...
Harvey presents an imagined first-person narrative in the form of a blues poem by master collage artist Bearden.
Romare muses from his New York studio, conjuring his train journey as a 3-year-old with his parents, from North Carolina to Harlem during the Great Migration from the south to the north. In a note, Harvey comments that Bearden drew analogies between his artistic process and jazz improvisation, which fuels her approach. Drawing inspiration from the artist’s collage Watching the Good Trains Go By (reproduced within), 14 of Harvey’s 21 verses focus on the trip, from tearful goodbyes with great-grandparents to the onomatopoeia of the train’s sounds and the chance sights rolling by. “I spy a woman by a washtub, stirring, staring up at me. / I wonder what she’s thinking, staring up at me. / Maybe that tomorrow so far away I’ll be.” The talented Zunon’s pictures intriguingly combine realistic faces, stylized landscapes and photo-collage that pays homage to Bearden’s art. Facial images are potentially a bit confusing: The adult Bearden could be mistaken for a teenager, while the preschooler making his first train trip seems more circumspect than a 3-year-old might be.
The interplay of poetic and visual metaphor makes for a striking presentation; adults who can appreciate and chant the bluesy poem as well as sensitively interpret the pictures together with children are the ideal collaborators in savoring this intriguing work. (author’s note, source notes, resources) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5810-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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