A reptilian “fairy godmother” provides more than fine clothing for this Indonesian Cinderella. Beguiled by a widowed neighbor’s gift, young Damura persuades her father to remarry. Subsequently forced into servitude, her distress draws an ancient crocodile—who, because she behaves with proper respect, not only furnishes her with lovely sarongs, but brings her back to life after her stepmother and stepsister feed her to another crocodile. Ruffins (Running the Road to ABC, 1996, Coretta Scott King Honor) sets long-limbed, colorfully clad figures into bright, open tropical settings, ably capturing Damura’s sadness, her stepsister’s disagreeable nature, even the crocodile’s solicitude with clearly drawn expressions and body language. Sierra tells the tale simply and fluidly, closing with a note on her source (a Dutch collection of Spice Island folktales), and on Cinderella tales in general. The story itself follows a familiar track, even to the lost slipper, but the exotic setting, plus several humorous touches, set it apart from the rest of this year’s crowd. (Picture book/folk tale. 6-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-689-82188-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2000
Future voters of the world, unite. The vote, Stier makes clear, is a great gift we have given ourselves.
A proudly buoyant tour of Election Day in the U.S.A.
This spry salute to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November generates a significant amount of positive energy. Only through active engagement in the process—informing yourself, going to the polling station—will you be tapping into the possibilities of the system. Everything else is just so much hot air. Stier neither belabors nor stints on the text. There is a decent amount of information to be imparted, if only to acquaint readers with political parties, campaigns, Congress, the history of the vote, Constitutional amendments, debates and voting, and it is done in an easy, if modestly didactic voice. It has the genuine ring of smart young students giving the oral presentation of their civics projects, sweet and serious. Stier situates the activity around the children's school, and Leonard makes the most of the setting, giving it the warm, watercolor cast of a small town, yet modern in its computer voting machines. And all ages are involved, young to old, with the finger squarely placed on the importance of 18-year-olds assuming this mantle of importance.
Future voters of the world, unite. The vote, Stier makes clear, is a great gift we have given ourselves. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8075-8008-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Less stylish than Ed Young’s classic Seven Blind Mice but a serviceable rendition nonetheless.
An Iranian-American author recasts an anecdote from the Persian poet Rumi, itself based on a far older tale about perceiving parts of a truth rather than its whole.
Javaherbin adds characters and plot to the bare-bones original and reduces Rumi’s lengthy mystical exegesis to a line. So curious are local villagers about the strange beast Ahmad the merchant has brought from India that they sneak into the dark barn where the creature is kept. Each returns with a different impression: one trips over the animal’s nose and announces that it’s like a snake, but it is more like a tree to one who feels its leg, and so on. Their squabble is so intense that they don’t even notice when Ahmad arrives to lead the elephant out to the river—leaving each with “only a small piece of the truth.” Yelchin outfits the villagers in curly-toed slippers and loose, brightly patterned caftans. He also puts a nifty spin on the story by leaving the adults to argue obliviously but surrounding the elephant at the wordless end with smiling, plainly clearer-eyed children. Though the language is bland, the wildly gesticulating figures in the illustrations add a theatrical element, and the episode makes its points in a forthright way. An excellent source note traces the familiar tale back to its earliest versions.
Less stylish than Ed Young’s classic Seven Blind Mice but a serviceable rendition nonetheless. (Picture book/folk tale. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-63670-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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