Collected from a Tanzanian Fipa storyteller but available in similar versions from several traditions, this tale sends three successive delegations of starving animals to wise Tortoise for the magical name that will cause a certain tree to drop its fruit. Unfortunately, minor distractions cause them all to forget the name before they can get back. In smoothly finished paintings Kilaka portrays animals in brightly patterned housedresses and other casual clothing flashing big eyes and looking flummoxed by their own short attention spans. Eventually little Rabbit manages to make the trip from Tortoise to tree successfully, and all are saved. Possibly because the text is three languages away from its original it reads with wooden formality, and the magical name Tortoise and Rabbit find so easy to remember will seem anything but to English-speaking ears. The art, however, adds enough child appeal to make this a viable alternative to Celia Lottridge’s Name of the Tree (1989, illustrated by Ian Wallace) or Jan Mogensen’s Kakalambalala (1993). (Picture book/folktale. 6-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7358-2254-2
Page Count: 36
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2009
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Keena Ford’s second-grade class is taking a field trip to the United States Capitol. This good-hearted girl works hard to behave, but her impulsive decisions have a way of backfiring, no matter how hard she tries to do the right thing. In this second book in a series, Keena cuts off one of her braids and later causes a congressman to fall down the stairs. The first-person journal format is a stretch—most second graders can barely write, let alone tell every detail of three days of her life. Children will wonder how Keena can cut one of her “two thick braids” all the way off by pretend-snipping in the air. They will be further confused because the cover art clearly shows Keena with a completely different hairdo on the field trip than the one described. Though a strong African-American heroine is most welcome in chapter books and Keena and her family are likable and realistic, this series needs more polish before Keena writes about her next month in school. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3264-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009
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