This is another of Cunningham's sentimental stories told in that half-cute, half-hushed manner that reeks with serf-importance and the expectation of an awed reception. There are five separate episodes here, all demonstrating the compassion; honor and fidelity of Maybe, a mole who is exiled by his peers because he is different (he can see). Maybe moves in with a companionable fox after his dedication to his new friend — which he proves by digging to the point of collapse to help the fox find a treasure — converts the other animal from exploiter to friend. Elsewhere the risks and efforts Maybe undergoes in order to keep a bargain inspires a previously cynical mouse to similar lengths. When Maybe (who looks to us like a masochistic loser) isn't exhausting himself by dragging a foolish old turtle to safe harbor, or rolling about on burning rugs "without regard for his singed fur or the pain of the burns" in order to save a lady's "ring of roses" from fire, he is watching the fox and the hound risk their lives for each other. Perhaps we are meant to conclude that the mole's anomalous physical vision is paralleled by an ability to discern some as yet undiscovered altruism lurking in the hearts of beasts. Suck is the nature of the cozy, unilluminating glow that Cunningham has been casting from Candle Tales (1964) to The Treasure Is the Rose (1973) — despite more than a hint of stronger fires in Dorp Dead.
Pub Date: Nov. 18, 1974
ISBN: 0440455626
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1974
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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