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A CHILD'S CALENDAR

Name: A CHILD'S CALENDAR
Author: John Updike
ISBN: 0-8234-1445-0

by John Updike ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 1999

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Updike has revised a set of 12 short poems, one per month, first published in 1965, and Hyman’s busy, finely detailed scenes replace the original edition’s illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. The verses are written in a child’s voice—“The chickadees/Grow plump on seed/That Mother pours/Where they can feed”—and commemorate seasonal weather, flowers, food, and holidays. In the paintings a multiracial, all-ages cast does the same in comfortable, semi-rural New England surroundings, sitting at a table cutting out paper hearts, wading through reeds with a net under a frog’s watchful eye, picnicking, contemplating a leafless tree outside for “November” and a decorated one inside for “December.” The thoughts and language are slightly elevated but not beyond the ken of children, and the pictures enrich the poetry with specific, often amusing, incidents. (Poetry. 6-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999

ISBN: 0-8234-1445-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S POETRY

- BOOK REVIEW
A HELPFUL ALPHABET OF FRIENDLY OBJECTS
by John Updike & photographed by David Updike

- BOOK REVIEW
MAGIC FLUTE
by John Updike

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ROBERT FULTON

FROM SUBMARINE TO STEAMBOAT

by Steven Kroll ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1999

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From Kroll (Lewis and Clark, 1994, etc.), a handsomely illustrated biography that introduces a fascinating historical figure and will make readers yearn for more information. The facts are covered, including Fulton’s stints as sign painter, air-gun inventor, and apprentice jeweler; Kroll states clearly which details cannot be pinned down, and the probable order of events and incidents. The text is informative and lively, although in places the transitions are abrupt, e.g., one of the only references to Fulton’s personal life—“Meanwhile, on January 7, 1808, Fulton had married Harriet Livingston. She bore him four children”—quickly reverts to details on the building of boats. Warm gold-toned paintings convey a sense of times past and complement the text. Especially appealing are the depictions of the steamships. A welcome volume. (chronology) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)

Pub Date: March 15, 1999

ISBN: 0-8234-1433-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HAND-ME-DOWN DOLL
by Steven Kroll & illustrated by Dan Andreasen

- BOOK REVIEW
NINA IN THAT MAKES ME MAD
by Steven Kroll & illustrated by Hilary Knight

- BOOK REVIEW
SUPER-DRAGON
by Steven Kroll & illustrated by Douglas Holgate

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RELATIVELY SPEAKING

POEMS ABOUT FAMILY

by Ralph Fletcher ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

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PLB 0-531-33141-5 In what amounts to a novel in poems, a narrator, 11, declares his satisfaction at “Being The Youngest,” introduces his big brother (“God’s Gift to Girls”), who later has a scary brush with death, watches his grandmother plant tulip bulbs “in that dirty confusion/of bulb and knuckle,/knuckle and bulb,” observes several relatives at a huge family reunion, tracks his mother’s pregnancy, and, after his sister is born, finds pleasure in “Being A Middle Child,” too. In easygoing free verse that hides no meanings behind oblique imagery or language, Fletcher (Ordinary Things, 1997, etc.) creates a close-knit, recognizable cast; Krudop’s small pen-and-ink still lifes of food and common household items evoke an air of intimate, everyday domesticity. Children will enjoy reading or listening to these linked episodes of high drama, low comedy, and comforting human contact. (Poetry. 8-10)