A work bound to provide food for thought and perhaps for the table.
A manifesto advocating local microfarming as an ecological necessity in today’s changing world is chock-full of fascinating information.
The first part presents a reasoned, organized explanation for increasing the availability of food for the ever-growing populations of cities around the world. Much of this food, especially fruits and vegetables, can be grown, at least in part, within or near the city in individual plots, community gardens or re-purposed larger-scaled venues, leaving traditional rural farms for grains and grasses that need large tracts of land. Subsequent sections discuss ways and means by which people can create their own gardens. Dyer employs a conversational, accessible tone that speaks directly to her readers and includes practical, real-life examples that can be implemented at home, school or in the community. Facts and data come thick and fast, copiously illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings and enhanced with captions, sidebars and appropriate quotes. Boldfaced headings are worded with flair, and illustrative material is visually appealing, colorful and varied. Most young readers will probably not read it from cover to cover in one sitting but will scan it, stopping as something catches their interest. They might even decide to get out there and start digging.
A work bound to provide food for thought and perhaps for the table. (preface, glossary, online resources, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55451-425-0
Page Count: 84
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote...
Two republished tales by a Greco-Cherokee author feature both folkloric and modern elements as well as new illustrations.
One of the two has never been offered south of the (Canadian) border. In “Coyote Sings to the Moon,” the doo-wop hymn sung nightly by Old Woman and all the animals except tone-deaf Coyote isn’t enough to keep Moon from hiding out at the bottom of the lake—until she is finally driven forth by Coyote’s awful wailing. She has been trying to return to the lake ever since, but that piercing howl keeps her in the sky. In “Coyote’s New Suit” he is schooled in trickery by Raven, who convinces him to steal the pelts of all the other animals while they’re bathing, sends the bare animals to take clothes from the humans’ clothesline, and then sets the stage for a ruckus by suggesting that Coyote could make space in his overcrowded closet by having a yard sale. No violence ensues, but from then to now humans and animals have not spoken to one another. In Eggenschwiler’s monochrome scenes Coyote and the rest stand on hind legs and (when stripped bare) sport human limbs. Old Woman might be Native American; the only other completely human figure is a pale-skinned girl.
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote tales. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55498-833-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In a large, handsome format, Tarnowska offers six tales plus an abbreviated version of the frame story, retold in formal but contemporary language and sandwiched between a note on the Nights’ place in her childhood in Lebanon and a page of glossary and source notes. Rather than preserve the traditional embedded structure and cliffhanger cutoffs, she keeps each story discrete and tones down the sex and violence. This structure begs the question of why Shahriyar lets Shahrazade [sic] live if she tells each evening’s tale complete, but it serves to simplify the reading for those who want just one tale at a time. Only the opener, “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,” is likely to be familiar to young readers; in others a prince learns to control a flying “Ebony Horse” by “twiddling” its ears, contending djinn argue whether “Prince Kamar el Zaman [or] Princess Boudour” is the more beautiful (the prince wins) and in a Cinderella tale a “Diamond Anklet” subs for the glass slipper. Hénaff’s stylized scenes of domed cityscapes and turbaned figures add properly whimsical visual notes to this short but animated gathering. (Folktales. 10-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84686-122-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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