A spirited and re-imagined retelling of a lesser-known tale by the Brothers Grimm. Rose and her stepsister, Blanche, are as different as their names: Rose is sweet and gentle and works hard; Blanche is lazy and cranky. When Rose loses her spindle in the well, her stepmother insists she go after it. But she wakes in a different world on the other side of the well. There she rescues bread from being burnt in the oven; she shakes an apple tree overladen with fruit; and she milks a cow in dire need of milking. Arriving at a cottage, she is welcomed by a woman named Mother Holly who has frighteningly large teeth. But she works for Mother Holly, shaking the quilts whose down makes snow on earth and finding her kind and good. When Rose returns home, Blanche envies the golden treasures she brings with her. Leaping into the well, she fails to repeat Rose’s kind acts and when she comes home she is covered in briars, not gold. In a departure from the original ending, goodhearted Rose goes back down the well with Blanche, where Blanche learns to work and not to complain, and both girls are covered in gold and glory at the end. Though the telling is often awkward and stiff (the idea of the large teeth is never really explained except in the adaptor’s note), the illustrations carry the day. They are rich in naturalistic detail, from kittens and roses to bones long buried in the earth. Westerman (Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, 1995, etc.) wields color like a magic wand, making well water translucent, peacock feathers iridescent, and the heavy silk of Rose’s blue gown palpable. (Folktale. 7-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-55858-926-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2001
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to...
A group of talking farm animals catches wind of the farm owner’s intention to burn the barn (with them in it) for insurance money and hatches a plan to flee.
Bond begins briskly—within the first 10 pages, barn cat Burdock has overheard Dewey Baxter’s nefarious plan, and by Page 17, all of the farm animals have been introduced and Burdock is sharing the terrifying news. Grady, Dewey’s (ever-so-slightly) more principled brother, refuses to go along, but instead of standing his ground, he simply disappears. This leaves the animals to fend for themselves. They do so by relying on their individual strengths and one another. Their talents and personalities match their species, bringing an element of realism to balance the fantasy elements. However, nothing can truly compensate for the bland horror of the premise. Not the growing sense of family among the animals, the serendipitous intervention of an unknown inhabitant of the barn, nor the convenient discovery of an alternate home. Meanwhile, Bond’s black-and-white drawings, justly compared to those of Garth Williams, amplify the sense of dissonance. Charming vignettes and single- and double-page illustrations create a pastoral world into which the threat of large-scale violence comes as a shock.
Ironically, by choosing such a dramatic catalyst, the author weakens the adventure’s impact overall and leaves readers to ponder the awkward coincidences that propel the plot. (Animal fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-544-33217-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2015
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage...
This sequel to The Lemonade War (2007), picking up just a few days later, focuses on how the fourth graders take justice into their own hands after learning that the main suspect in the case of the missing lemonade-stand money now owns the latest in game-box technology.
Siblings Evan and Jessie (who skipped third grade because of her precocity) are sure Scott Spencer stole the $208 from Evan’s shorts and want revenge, especially as Scott’s new toy makes him the most popular kid in class, despite his personal shortcomings. Jessie’s solution is to orchestrate a full-blown trial by jury after school, while Evan prefers to challenge Scott in basketball. Neither channel proves satisfactory for the two protagonists (whose rational and emotional reactions are followed throughout the third-person narrative), though, ultimately, the matter is resolved. Set during the week of Yom Kippur, the story raises beginning questions of fairness, integrity, sin and atonement. Like John Grisham's Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer (2010), much of the book is taken up with introducing courtroom proceedings for a fourth-grade level of understanding. Chapter headings provide definitions (“due diligence,” “circumstantial evidence,” etc.) and explanation cards/documents drawn by Jessie are interspersed.
Readers will enjoy this sequel from a plot perspective and will learn how to play-act a trial, though they may not engage with the characters enough to care about how the justice actually pans out. (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-27967-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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