Next book

AND TWELVE CHINESE ACROBATS

A colorful episode from the history of Yolen's family—her grandparents and their eight children—marinaded in Old World nostalgia. The oldest son, Lou, is a charming no-goodnik who keeps getting in trouble and finally is sent away to school. Everybody becomes sad—especially Wolf, Lou's younger brother (and Yolen's father), who idolizes him. When they learn that Lou has been dismissed for gambling, everybody seems even sadder. The next time Lou shows up, he is the manager of a troupe of 12 Chinese acrobats whom he met while working in a Moscow circus. When the acrobats leave the shtetl in the spring, Lou's father sends him to America to find a place for the family. Yolen's animated narrative, liberally sprinkled with Yiddish, sticks to Wolf's point of view, and accordingly alternates between acute happiness and sorrow. Gralley's antic b&w pictures are mildly Sendakian; her characters, with pointy ears and round foreheads, are simultaneously good- looking and peculiar in appearance. A book radiating family warmth, in words, art, and remembrance. (Fiction. 7-10)

Pub Date: April 19, 1995

ISBN: 0-399-22691-5

Page Count: 54

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995

Next book

RIVER STORY

Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: June 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000

Next book

THE SINGING ROCK & OTHER BRAND-NEW FAIRY TALES

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...

The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.

Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”

Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)

Pub Date: June 18, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0

Page Count: 112

Publisher: First Second

Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019

Close Quickview