paper 1-55037-524-5 This sly Korean folktale features a family of moles: exquisite daughter (whose eyes sparkle in very unmolelike fashion), protective mother, and proud father. As the daughter is the fairest of all creatures, her father wants her to marry the most respected and powerful of husbands. “The sky is the limit,” he intones and proceeds to offer his daughter to the heavens. But the sky tells him the sun is mightier still, so the father pleads his case there. The sun speaks of the cloud’s ability to vanquish him, but when the father makes his offer to a rough-looking rain cloud (“Have you given any thought to the idea of matrimony?”), the cloud points to the wind; the wind motions toward an ancient stone wall that no breeze can topple. The daughter is scandalized: “You would not seriously think of wedding me to an old dusty stone wall?” Only when a mole, having tunneled under the wall, pops up, is the question of the most powerful is laid to rest, and wedding bells chime. Gukova’s artwork is wonderfully vivid, with all the natural elements fancifully displaying their talents. The text delightfully undermines the father’s hubris without making him look a fool, for his heart, if not his head, is in the right place. (Picture book/folklore. 4-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-55037-525-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Tafuri’s latest has the brisk, clipped tone and clear progression that will make it an ally of any child beginning to read. Bird and Bunny share a tree as their house: Bird up in the branches and Bunny at the base. Bunny would like to be friends, but Bird is painfully shy. A squall that soaks Bird’s place brings the two creatures together in Bunny’s hollow. The next day, with Squirrel and Chipmunk, they rebuild Bird’s ruined nest. Bird answers this display of friendship with a special song of thanks. The kindness of strangers is exactly that: a little gesture here, a little comfort there, and in affable, limpid artwork, Tafuri creates a world that shelters readers from the storm. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-590-63782-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
On ``Level 1'' of the ``Bank Street Ready-to-Read'' series, an appealing story about a little bear whose animal friends cheerfully awake to help summon the moon she says she needs before she can go to sleep. The animals spot different lights that seem to be the moon—a light in a window, a headlight; at last, the real thing appears and everyone goes back to sleep- -except Bear's cat, who has slept throughout but now wakes to yowl. The language is neatly phrased to include plenty of the rhymes and repetitions that are entertaining and especially instructive at this level; the rhythm wanders in and out of a predictable pattern, disconcerting the ear. Still, an enjoyable addition for the newest independent readers. The text is on a pleasing blue ground, carrying out the nighttime theme and providing a soothing frame for Brewster's comical watercolors of a pillow-soft world and cuddly-looking creatures, glowing with rich, dark tones. (Easy reader. 4-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-553-07094-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
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