The narrator, depicted in Catalanotto's impressionistic watercolors as of primary-school age, describes her mother's work in simple, gracefully cadenced sentences occasionally varied with rhythmic verse (``Firedamp, blackdamp,/Fire Boss checks the air./Bad top, kettle bottom:/don't go there''). Mama's journey two miles into the mountain and her different tasks—spreading rock dust to prevent sparks, or shoveling up spilled coal—are briefly described. Lyons also touches on daily events (lunch), dangers (``last month, Eldon's leg got hurt''), and economic necessity, but she focuses on the miners' sensations, contrasting their grueling work with the family life they yearn to return to at day's end. This theme is beautifully extended in the illustrations, where the family and the spotless kitchen that are constantly in Mama's thoughts merge wordlessly with underground scenes, tucked to one side or expanding to an entire spread, while the narrator, too, is imagining what Mama is doing during her day. A sober, richly expressive look at a hard way of life, underlining this mother's courage and uncomplaining persistence. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-531-06853-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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