Sweet and informative; of special interest to young fish lovers.
This illustrated children’s book explains how Grandpa came to love fish and care for them in a backyard pond.
As the story’s young narrator explains, her favorite baby toy was a monkey that dangled overhead. When she’d pull on its feet, her monkey would say “Bonga Bonga,” and that became the girl’s nickname. Bonga Bonga tells her grandfather’s tale as she’s heard it from him. Growing up in Jamaica, he liked to keep glass jars and aquariums filled with fish. By the time he was 10 years old, they became too numerous to keep inside, so he built several backyard ponds, one for each type of fish. He also solved several problems, such as how to protect his pets from dragonfly nymphs and a fish-eating neighbor cat. After finishing his university studies, he moved to West Vancouver, Canada, where Bonga Bonga now lives. There, he built a large pond in his backyard in the shape of Jamaica, but instead of warm-water tropical fish, he had to stock hardier goldfish. He made his own fish food and put up a bird feeder. There were some sad moments, as when raccoons and herons ate all 72 goldfish, but later Bonga Bonga’s grandfather installed a lighted fountain that scared predators away. “Then my grandpa and me bought some more goldfish. And we were very happy once again,” concludes Bonga Bonga. In this series opener aimed at children ages 1 to 7, Haddad (If I’m Not Back by Wednesday, 2016) tells the story with much affection for family relationships and the natural world. In the first category are warm memories of Bonga Bonga’s spending time with Grandpa: feeding fish and birds, playing, and commiserating when animals ate the goldfish. In the second category are, for example, tidbits about the life cycle of fish. Children can also learn something about the difficulties and rewards of keeping fish in backyard ponds, with solid information that comes from experience. The uncredited illustrations are charmingly naïve, bringing out the appeal of beautifully hued fish and even the ravenous raccoons.
Sweet and informative; of special interest to young fish lovers.Pub Date: May 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5255-2760-9
Page Count: 44
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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