bookshelf

THE WHITTLER'S TALE

Name: THE WHITTLER'S TALE
Author: Jennifer Armstrong
ISBN: 0-688-10751-6

by Jennifer Armstrong & illustrated by Valery Vasiliev ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1994

bookshelf

Once upon a time, a stranger comes to town, flashes a knife, and proceeds to carve a small sparrow from a piece of wood. Suddenly, the carving shakes its wings and flies away. Dragonflies, mice, and fish follow. The sheriff of the town arrests the stranger on fabricated charges, demanding he turn over the knife—the sheriff and the mayor want to use it to carve golden coins—and the stranger grudgingly gives it to them. When the knife does nothing but nick the mayor's fingers, however, he angrily flings it into the fireplace. Clementine, a local girl, retrieves the knife from the flames and returns it to the stranger, who thanks her and explains that the magic is not in the knife. It lies elsewhere, he says, and suggests that Clementine try carving. Although her whittled bird won't fly at first, Clementine fires it with her imagination, and it takes off through the trees. Armstrong's (That Terrible Baby, p. 551, etc.) folkloric tale is set to Vasiliev's old-Flemish-style renderings- -deft, rich paintings that lack the dynamism necessary to animate this lightly told morality play but are entrancing enough to keep the viewer's attention. A fine blast at greed and skulduggery. (Fiction/Picture book. 5+)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994

ISBN: 0-688-10751-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ONCE UPON A BANANA
by Jennifer Armstrong & illustrated by David Small

- BOOK REVIEW
THE AMERICAN STORY
by Jennifer Armstrong & illustrated by Roger Roth

- BOOK REVIEW
MAGNUS AT THE FIRE
by Jennifer Armstrong & illustrated by Owen Smith

bookshelf

FRINDLE

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Brian Selznick ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1996

With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating...

bookshelf

Nicholas is a bright boy who likes to make trouble at school, creatively.

When he decides to torment his fifth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Granger (who is just as smart as he is), by getting everyone in the class to replace the word "pen'' with "frindle,'' he unleashes a series of events that rapidly spins out of control. If there's any justice in the world, Clements (Temple Cat, 1995, etc.) may have something of a classic on his hands. By turns amusing and adroit, this first novel is also utterly satisfying. The chess-like sparring between the gifted Nicholas and his crafty teacher is enthralling, while Mrs. Granger is that rarest of the breed: a teacher the children fear and complain about for the school year, and love and respect forever after.

With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating tale—one to press upon children, and one they'll be passing among themselves. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-689-80669-8

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FRIENDSHIP WAR
by Andrew Clements

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LOSERS CLUB
by Andrew Clements

- BOOK REVIEW
ABOUT AVERAGE
by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Mark Elliott

bookshelf

CORALINE

by Neil Gaiman ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...

bookshelf

A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.

Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.

Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)