These tasty tales have Aesopean flavor with Southern spiciness. While each of this wonderful storyteller’s eight stories indicates its specific origins, many edify while some are simply entertaining. In “The Golly Whumper,” while the tongue is having fun with cadence, Aunt Molly is depending on her friends the animals to help her escape the witchy Golly Whumper (unripe gourd) that is chasing her about trying to whump her. The reader learns that one good turn deserves another. “Waiting for BooZoo,” however, is “Wait ’Til Martin Comes” in a new version of the spinetingler about a brave stranger who, hoping to earn $1,000, tries to spend the night in an old haunted house. All he has to do is face the monster cat and break its spell. The story builds in suspense and nobody can blame the stranger for finally losing his nerve. In the title story creatures big and small make a deal with a poisonous vine, which has inadvertently been infecting the people, in which they take on its poison, but also acquire markings that warn the humans of their venom. Reneaux’s last story ends with the quote, “Respect earth’s creatures, and you will repay their gift, and help to saved the animals just as they once save the people.” It is the late Reneaux’s gift that her wonderful way with words comes through on these pages, leaving us with the spirit of her voice. Ransome radiantly illuminates these tales with lush watercolors that paint touchably realistic animals with a dash of humanity in their expressive faces and bits of clothing. Every single page is a joy to read. (glossary, sources, bibliography of stories and recordings) (Folktales. 5-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16253-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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