Martin (The Honey Hunters, 1992, etc.) retells an old, old trickster story from the Ngoni people of southern Tanzania with great good humor and a story-teller style highly appropriate for a tale from the oral tradition: “Listen! / There is a lake in Africa, called Nyasa. / Mmm, it is full of blue cool water.” and “Hm, tch, tch, it started like this . . .” Words in Kiswahili, the language most spoken in Tanzania, are translated immediately in text, thus proving to be no problem for readers, from Chungu (black ant), Chura (frog) and Kobi (tortoise) in the appealing title page to the final line, Kwa heri ya kuonana, wanangu (“so long, children, till we meet again.”) The personal, one-on-one tone expands deliciously in luscious, lavish watercolors depicting what happens when two boastful bullies, Elephant and Hippopotamus, declare their superiority over the small animals. Warthog calls a meeting to find a way to control the two behemoths; big-brained Tortoise comes up with a tricky tug-of-war that pits one against the other unbeknownst to either. The battle is joined in its traditional way: Elephant has one end, Hippopotamus the other. Tortoise ends the tug by cutting the rope, leaving the bullies questioning—but not denigrating—his strength. What makes this version particularly appealing is the panels of illustration, boarders run the length of two pages, the jungle scene takes up three quarters of those pages with the text set out on white space. There’s plenty to look at in the highly detailed vignettes and abundant color helps to set the mood. Utterly charming and a great read-aloud. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0506-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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