In three rhymed Old West tales, Steig casts a tough-talking but motherly Sheriff and a crew of wanderers who settle into unlikely occupations. First, to the town of Fiasco come a Lonesome Cowboy and a repentant horse thief, who open a bakery together. Then a patent medicine salesman turns resident music teacher after his daughter dowses a new well for the stricken town. And in the wake of a stinky foot duel—“Point blank their feet were aimin’, / Right at each other’s nose, / And they yowled and gasped and each turned green, / And blue, and puce, and rose”—a blustering stranger pairs off with a (perhaps literally) crusty old lady as town exterminators. Steig’s previous titles carried her late husband’s distinctive illustrations; here, she’s found an apt successor in Turner, who presents oddball, minimalist sketches of figures with character-actor faces beneath big, colorful hats, against beige backgrounds. The smelly-foot trope is a perennial crowd-pleaser, but adults may be won over more easily than child readers by these ballads. (Poetry. 8+)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-06-000959-4
Page Count: 80
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An Algonquin Cinderella story, with accomplished but sometimes overliteral illustrations. A powerful invisible being will marry the woman who can prove that she's seen him; a poor man's two proud daughters try and fail, but the third, her face and hands scarred from tending the fire, has the understanding to see him everywhere in the world and is lovingly received. Martin's retelling is spare and understated, but never dry; the two sisters are richly comic figures, the climax and ending uncontrived yet magically romantic. Shannon (who illustrated Lester's How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?) expertly picks up the flavor—the sisters positively strut through the village, their noses high and one wearing what looks like a spangled angora sweater—but the lips the Rough-Faced Girl sees hanging in the sky, or the muscular, art-deco cloud figure, seem intrusions rather than integral parts of the natural world. Still, a strong, distinctive tale with art to match. (Folklore/Picture book. 8+)
Pub Date: April 29, 1992
ISBN: 0-399-21859-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1992
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