From Wong (The Rainbow Hand, p. 231, etc.), a collection of 15 soulful poems that commands attention and keeps until the end, with a canny, singular take on the familiar imagery of dreamtime. These are episodes of remembrance and genesis, falling and flying, of speaking an unknown language with facility, of the bite of an inexorable nightmare. Short and vivid, the poems urge readers to “pull/at the air around you/when you wake,/pull and gulp it down” to keep alive the presence of the departed who have just visited the dreamer. Wong can be skip-quick to suggest evanescence, or her words can flutter with fear; she can be exquisitely funny, as when a sibling eavesdrops on a sister who is talking and laughing in her sleep—about the eavesdropper. Paschkis is equal to the task of illustrating these poems, with two-page spreads presented as mirror-image two-toned diptychs, bursting with glyphs and portents across dream-crazed backgrounds, with the text scrolling across one page and the full-color image undulating from the other. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82617-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-688-13154-9 All aspects of the personality of a cat, no matter how maligned, are seen through a set of witty poems and pictures full of visual puns. Egyptian hieroglyphs on the endpapers hint at the cat’s timelessness, followed by the collection itself, introduced with a close-up of a cat’s face and one paw swiping through a mousehole at the resident, hilariously backed into a corner. For every lyrical haiku setting forth a single attribute of cats, a longer poem appears to contradict—even demolish—it. After a lovely scene of a cat lapping at the reflection of a moon in a puddle comes a Genesis-like telling of the cat’s fall from grace because it sipped from the moon. A haiku on the one feather found on a cat’s whiskers gives way to a poem on stalking mice, right to the crushing last line, “Mine!” In “Sophie, Who Taunted the Dogs,” the sublime Sophie meets with a very grisly end after teasing neighborhood dogs. If cats are cuddly, queenly, sneaky, devilish, and aloof, they are captured here, attribute by attribute. Children will rush to find cats, rabbits, mice, and T-rexes Buehner shows hiding in the rain puddles of a city street or the cracks of a broken headlight, posing as clouds or doubling as leaves in a field. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-13153-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Old MacDonald had a farm, and on his farm animals pop up, wiggle, and roll their eyeballs. This hilarious paper-engineered version of the classic song will engage readers of all ages. The illustrations are amiable cartoons, while the mechanics of the pop-ups are superb. Old MacDonald’s tractor shakes its rear tires; a row of hungry cows roll their eyes and chew their cuds with enthusiasm. Not only are the movements funny, but the pull-tabs are tough—this book was designed to handle heavy use—and will probably survive even library circulation. (Pop-up. 2-5)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30129-X
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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