From the collaborators behind And Then What? (1993, not reviewed), the I-wanna-pet story of a different color. Tony starts the morning by demanding from his father a pet elephant, or better yet two elephants. Once they conclude that elephants might be too big, Tony asks for a pony, or a python, or a flock of woolly sheep. As they wash and make breakfast, Tony goes over the options, envisioning more and more outrageous scenarios (elephants playing bridge, a baby whale swimming in the living room), while his father skeptically points out potential difficulties. The matter-of-fact discussion is made doubly funny by Tony's penchant for pairs: not one gorilla, but two; not just a dolphin, but a whale, too. In a splendidly fulfilling ending, they settle on a puppy. Wolf has perfect pitch: The dialogue between Tony and his father has the punctuated rhythm of a two-man comedy routine. In the watercolor, colored pencil, and pen illustrations, these two look exactly the way they sound: two disheveled, absent-minded free spirits, who are also incessant readers, talented bridge players, and lovers of Chinese food. A riot. (Picture book. 4+)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-688-13294-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
Like the quiet lap of waves on the sand, the alternating introspections of two Bahamian island children in 1492. Morning Girl and her brother Star Boy are very different: she loves the hush of pre-dawn while he revels in night skies, noise, wind. In many ways they are antagonists, each too young and subjective to understand the other's perspective—in contrast to their mother's appreciation for her brother. In the course of these taut chapters concerning such pivotal events as their mother's losing a child, the arrival of a hurricane, or Star Boy's earning the right to his adult name, they grow closer. In the last, Morning Girl greets— with cordial innocence—a boat full of visitors, unaware that her beautifully balanced and textured life is about to be catalogued as ``very poor in everything,'' her island conquered by Europeans. This paradise is so intensely and believably imagined that the epilogue, quoted from Columbus's diary, sickens with its ominous significance. Subtly, Dorris draws parallels between the timeless chafings of sibs set on changing each other's temperaments and the intrusions of states questing new territory. Saddening, compelling—a novel to be cherished for its compassion and humanity. (Fiction. 8+)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 1992
ISBN: 1-56282-284-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
This standout novella lustrously portrays Ana Rosa and the rich simplicity of her family’s daily life in the Dominican Republic. The linked vignettes and elegant prose vitalize the merengue music, colorful houses, as well as the people’s poverty and the tyranny of the government. Each chapter begins with one of Ana Rosa’s lovely rhythmic verses. A poet and writer at age 12, she steals bits of paper to record everything she sees, hears, and imagines. Ana Rosa’s family is very close by necessity, but it is her beloved brother Guario who has the job that supports them. As the novella proceeds, dark shadows begin to slink through the gentle days. We learn that Ana Rosa’s father drinks too much rum and Coke, especially on Sundays, when he becomes a lurching spectacle. Then an official informs the villagers that to build a hotel, the government has sold the land on which their families have lived for generations. The villagers band together, Ana Rosa writes an article, and her brother Guario becomes their passionate leader. But when the day of the standoff arrives, the villager’s words and rocks are nothing against the guardia’s guns and bulldozers. The heartbreaking result is Guario’s death. Without diluting the sorrow, Joseph (Fly, Bessie, Fly, 1998, etc.) illustrates the good arising from the tragedy as the government cancels the hotel project and Ana Rosa begins writing the life of her brother. This is an achingly beautiful story that will awaken profound emotions in the reader. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-028232-0
Page Count: 144
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
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