by Jessica Albarn & illustrated by Jessica Albarn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2010
Physically slender but long on mystical atmosphere, Albarn’s debut features a mix of feathery line portraits and translucent leaves of pale, reworked photos of butterfly-wing and other natural patterns. They illustrate a short, formally told tale of Faerie retribution and redemption. In the first part, a bored, malicious lad tries to set fire to a Druidic Oak near his parents’ cottage and is embedded within the wood by angry sprites. Years later, when the Faeries try to do the same to a young girl whose parents plan to cut the tree down, the boy saves her and is released for showing compassion. The elevated language is nowhere near as polished as the pictures: “The boy awoke with a thud to his heart”; “He twisted with anxiety, wretched with his own memories and shameful of his past.” The special paper adds a misty, magical air to the page turns, however, and the insectile, sharp-tempered Faeries inject a needed thread of animation. Will tempt fans of the Spiderwick series and all things Faerie. (Fantasy. 10-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-897476-52-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simply Read
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2010
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by Kenn Nesbitt & illustrated by Ethan Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2011
Not even in the same League as Scott Seegert’s funnier and far more useful Vordak the Incomprehensible: How to Grow Up and...
A phoned-in guide to world domination for the easily amused.
Nesbitt offers rightly characterized “brief period[s] of simulated education” (“Your arch is the curve on the bottom of your foot, so an arch nemesis is an enemy that you want to step on”) punctuated by boob, doo-doo and butt jokes. The author lays out a ten–or-so–step program for would-be supervillains—from becoming a genius overnight by playing more video games to acquiring evil minions and robots along with the requisite lair, look, cackle, motto and booty (“Hey! Stop that! Are you laughing at the BIG, SHINY BOOTY? You are?”). He also wanders off on tangents that will likely lose even his intended audience, suggesting such family-friendly pranks as resetting all of the household clocks and watches or periodically announcing that he’s taking a break or that his brother has dropped a hamster down his pants. Long’s small spot cartoon drawings supply neither humor nor relief.
Not even in the same League as Scott Seegert’s funnier and far more useful Vordak the Incomprehensible: How to Grow Up and Rule the World (2010). (Humor. 10-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3834-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2011
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by Jamila Gavin & illustrated by Amanda Hall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2011
Fresh versions of some very old stories, well suited to reading aloud (but practice the names first!).
Ten stories retold from Hindu myth, free of any broad cultural context but handsomely packaged and illustrated.
Each tale offers a full slate of gods, heroes, monsters and (often) princesses, as well as plenty of action and, less often, a clever trick or dilemma. They incorporate such memorable images as the sea of milk in which Brahma floats before the Earth’s creation, the decapitated demon head that still chases the sun and moon (“But they would always slip out of Rahu’s neck, and light would return”) and the swayamvara ceremony of Princess Damayanti—in which all her suitors, human and immortal, must line up so that she can choose one. Though 10 tales is hardly enough to brush the surface of one of the world’s oldest religious traditions, Gavin does include a creation story, a flood story and also severely condensed versions of the central events of both the Ramayana and the Mahabarata epics. Pale borders decorating broad page margins harmonize with finely detailed scenes from Hall done in Indian-miniature style to give the volume an elegant look. The lack of source notes or explanations of such significant concepts as “incarnation” and Lord Brahma’s “three in one and one in three” identity make this an inadequate alternative to Madhur Jaffrey’s still unexcelled Seasons of Splendour (1985), though.
Fresh versions of some very old stories, well suited to reading aloud (but practice the names first!). (Mythology. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5564-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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