FUEGO, FUEGITO / FIRE, LITTLE FIRE

Name: FUEGO, FUEGITO / FIRE, LITTLE FIRE
Author: Jorge Tetl Argueta
ISBN: 978-1-55885-887-9

by Jorge Tetl Argueta ; illustrated by Felipe Ugalde Alcántara ; translated by Jorge Tetl Argueta ; Madeleine Maillet ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 31, 2019

A gentle exploration of culture and nature.

bookshelf

Argueta’s playful trilingual homage to fire spans its incarnation from spark to lava flow.

Fire can come singing into its strength at the striking of two stones or from a bolt slashing through the sky. As the oldest and strongest of all “Grandfather” elements on Mother Earth, its presence is seen and felt in ritual ceremonies and in kitchen hearths. But whereas Agüita/Little Water, from Argueta’s previous elemental book Agua, Agüita / Water, Little Water (2017), declares at the end, “I am life,” Fuego/Fueguito claims to be “…the joyful energy of life.” By employing the diminutive Fueguito/Little Flame, the poet creates an affectionate tone with which fire introduces itself—thereby permitting the austere and imposing Fuego/Fire to transform into the friendly, helpful spark/chispita. In the body of the book, Argueta’s Spanish verse is printed above the English (translated by the author and Maillet) on the page, separated by Mesoamerican-inspired symbols. Communicating his and his people’s (Pipil Nahua) respect for nature, Argueta includes his Náhuat translation of his poem. Alcántara’s landscapes vary from the fury of a volcanic explosion to the stark beauty of the American Southwest. Full-page blazes of oranges, yellows, reds, and indigo underscore the simple narrative of the poem.

A gentle exploration of culture and nature. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-55885-887-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S POETRY

bookshelf

TOUCH THE EARTH

From the Julian Lennon White Feather Flier Adventure series , Vol. 1

by Julian Lennon with Bart Davis ; illustrated by Smiljana Coh ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2017

“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so...

bookshelf

A pro bono Twinkie of a book invites readers to fly off in a magic plane to bring clean water to our planet’s oceans, deserts, and brown children.

Following a confusingly phrased suggestion beneath a soft-focus world map to “touch the Earth. Now touch where you live,” a shake of the volume transforms it into a plane with eyes and feathered wings that flies with the press of a flat, gray “button” painted onto the page. Pressing like buttons along the journey releases a gush of fresh water from the ground—and later, illogically, provides a filtration device that changes water “from yucky to clean”—for thirsty groups of smiling, brown-skinned people. At other stops, a tap on the button will “help irrigate the desert,” and touching floating bottles and other debris in the ocean supposedly makes it all disappear so the fish can return. The 20 children Coh places on a globe toward the end are varied of skin tone, but three of the four young saviors she plants in the flier’s cockpit as audience stand-ins are white. The closing poem isn’t so openly parochial, though it seldom rises above vague feel-good sentiments: “Love the Earth, the moon and sun. / All the children can be one.”

“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so easy to clean the place up and give everyone a drink? (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: April 11, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5107-2083-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sky Pony Press

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
HEAL THE EARTH
by Julian Lennon & Bart Davis ; illustrated by Smiljana Coh

bookshelf

ROSIE REVERE, ENGINEER

by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2013

Earnest and silly by turns, it doesn’t quite capture the attention or the imagination, although surely its heart is in the...

bookshelf

Rhymed couplets convey the story of a girl who likes to build things but is shy about it. Neither the poetry nor Rosie’s projects always work well.

Rosie picks up trash and oddments where she finds them, stashing them in her attic room to work on at night. Once, she made a hat for her favorite zookeeper uncle to keep pythons away, and he laughed so hard that she never made anything publicly again. But when her great-great-aunt Rose comes to visit and reminds Rosie of her own past building airplanes, she expresses her regret that she still has not had the chance to fly. Great-great-aunt Rose is visibly modeled on Rosie the Riveter, the iconic, red-bandanna–wearing poster woman from World War II. Rosie decides to build a flying machine and does so (it’s a heli-o-cheese-copter), but it fails. She’s just about to swear off making stuff forever when Aunt Rose congratulates her on her failure; now she can go on to try again. Rosie wears her hair swooped over one eye (just like great-great-aunt Rose), and other figures have exaggerated hairdos, tiny feet and elongated or greatly rounded bodies. The detritus of Rosie’s collections is fascinating, from broken dolls and stuffed animals to nails, tools, pencils, old lamps and possibly an erector set. And cheddar-cheese spray.

Earnest and silly by turns, it doesn’t quite capture the attention or the imagination, although surely its heart is in the right place. (historical note) (Picture book. 5-7)