Selected from the 138 chapters of Platero y yo (by the winner of the 1956 Nobel Prize for Literature), 19 vignettes in the original Spanish plus Livingston's English, based on Dominguez's literal translation. These prose poems concerning JimÇnez's Andalusian village and its inhabitants are linked by the poet's affection for the little donkey Platero, sometimes an actor here and sometimes a confidant, and by the orderly passage of time—life, death, and the seasons. The book ends with a series of episodes from Christmas to Carnival. The poet scarcely reveals himself except as an observer. Of his friendship with the donkey, he remarks that ``We understand each other. I let him go wherever he wishes and always he takes me where it is I wish to go''; his lyrical descriptions of the village sights and sounds and such simple happenings as fireworks or calling to Platero in an echoing valley are vividly evocative. Even the inherently dramatic (e.g., a mother dog rescuing her pups) is so understated that it's not the event but the mood that lingers in the memory. Frasconi's handsome full-bleed woodcuts, too, center on mood and setting, their rich colors subtly muted, their expressive images like ``emotion recollected in tranquillity.'' A lovely book, for a discerning audience. (Fiction. 10+)
Pub Date: April 18, 1994
ISBN: 0-395-62365-0
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1994
Vivid color photos enhance this detailed account of the notorious tanker spill of 11 million gallons of crude oil off Alaska in 1989. Some may question whether Captain Hazelwood was ``regarded as one of the best commanders of the Exxon fleet,'' or that his ship was ``one of the newest and finest,'' while Carr's conclusion that ``It is a sad fact that accidents happen. But as long as oil has to be moved by ships, oil spills will occur'' seems unnecessarily fatalistic. Still, the book is fairly even- handed in its description of the collision, of efforts to clean up, and of the impact of the spill on the environment and on the law. More detailed and visually satisfying than Anderson's Oil Spills (Watts, 1990). Selected readings (mostly from Anchorage newspapers, and thus difficult to obtain); index.~(Nonfiction.10+)
Pub Date: March 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-531-15217-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1991
Though Jesse, 15, and her family have returned to summer on the St. Lawrence River after many years' absence, they quickly settle into familiar patterns. Then Jesse, with her younger sister Emma and best friend Maggie, locates a hidden stash of cocaine. They leave it alone, but their proximity to the hiding place is noted by members of a drug ring; when the cocaine is later missing, the girls, blamed by the smugglers, are thought to be in danger. Several coincidences later, the ring is ``broken,'' the girls safe. Characters, relationships, and the splendid setting are all wonderfully well realized in this first novel; unfortunately, the plot's intrigues and machinations are overabundant and the finale is rather flat. Atmospheric, if occasionally tiresome. (Fiction. 12+)
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-41867-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1991
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