A thrillingly melodramatic tale kept close to its Navajo roots.
Illustrations incorporating images drawn from traditional sand painting and pop culture alike accompany a new Navajo/English version of the early exploits of a pair of mythic heroes.
Kristofic opens with the expressed hope that he’s telling the story “in an accurate and respectful way without exposing too much of its sacredness.” He begins the tale by establishing the oppression of the Emergence People by vaguely described but monstrous naayéé’. Then Changing Woman gives birth to twins who grow up to overcome various challenges on the way to defeating Yé’iitsoh, a metal-clad giant, and earning their names: Monster Slayer (Naayéé’ neizghání) and He Who Cuts Life Out of the Enemy (Na’ídígishí). In James’ vigorous pictures, the Twins, their father, the Sun (Jó’honaa’éí), and their robotlike adversary are usually human figures with the rippling thews and poses of comic-book superheroes—but transformations occur frequently; when placed in the sky, the Sun takes an abstract form, for instance. A thrillingly scary, half-human Spider Woman headlines a cast of other stylized figures. The author doesn’t connect these Twins with others from pre-Columbian New World mythology, but he supplies a prefatory note on the cultural significance of the colors in the pictures. Throughout both the Navajo text and the English translation placed beneath, small marker icons are placed in equivalent spots so that readers can compare words and phrases.
A thrillingly melodramatic tale kept close to its Navajo roots. (Bilingual folk tale. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8263-5533-1
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Univ. of New Mexico
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Cool ideas, good execution, mediocre text.
Readers are challenged to unlock the secrets of a haunted house, with the aid of a "magic glass."
"Open at your own risk!" declares a message on the inside cover of the book, just above an elegant envelope. As if this isn't spooky enough, a skeleton's arm wreathed in smoke points at the envelope from below. Inside the sealed envelope is a rectangle of plastic, 2" x 3 1/4" and 1/8" thick, bordered with a design featuring the sun and the moon. Illustrations and three pages of instructions explain how to use the lens; placing it over selected images in the book guides readers/sleuths, providing clues, code keys and answers. There are 10 two-page spreads, spooky tableaux in mostly dark hues, nicely designed by Junko Miyakoshi. These include a Ouija board; a desk with old books, a candelabra, a skull and three crystal balls (readers choose their own fates from among them); a graveyard; mystery journals; even the gates of Hades. Instructions are in verse, each about a dozen lines per spread. Some are solid enough ("The dead it seems are quite alive / Buzzing in their graveyard hive"), but most are awkward near-rhymes ("Now that you have found your ghosts / It's time to look for UFO's"). The book ends with an answer key. And a bonus! A website (TheSpiritGlass.com) with 13 more puzzles.
Cool ideas, good execution, mediocre text. (Puzzle book. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-934734-49-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Seven Footer Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Still, the intergenerational intimacy comes through clearly and should leave readers thinking about faraway relatives of...
Letters exchanged between a San Antonio child and her distant grandfather create a link that bridges miles and years in this slight but loving family story.
So strong are memories of outings together and music on a requinto (guitar) played “with an almost angelic touch” that 11-year-old Camila tries to bicycle all the way to her grandpa in Mexico. When that fails, she writes: “I have the picture of you… on my dresser and I look at it every day. Will you please write back?” Eight years later (but with just a few quick samples of a continuing correspondence), she flies down at last for a joyful reunion, returning after a long stay with the requinto as a memento. Rough-hewn, heavily brushed paintings tracking Camila’s progress to adulthood and Grandpa’s to gray-haired old age accompany narrative passages of English over Spanish. These sometimes dart across several years without transition, and the book concludes with an open-ended scene that will leave readers unsure whether Grandpa is still alive or not.
Still, the intergenerational intimacy comes through clearly and should leave readers thinking about faraway relatives of their own. . (picture glossary) (Bilingual picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60448-024-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Lectura
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
