Grandmother knows a long, hard winter is coming and she wants one more armful of firewood. One at a time, she sends the family—son, daughter, mother, father, and baby—out, but they each come back without any wood and their clothing shredded, unraveled, or clawed. Each one claims to have been attached by a creature: “I barely escaped with my life!” To which Grandmother retorts, “That’s a far-fetched story,” and tosses the ragged item into the empty wood box. A rush of cold air prompts her to start a fire with the rags, but the cloth colors and the softness of the fabrics are so comforting that instead she reaches for needles and scissors, creating the solution for the cold winter: a “far-fetched” story quilt. Like a real quilt, this book is layered, with a satisfying story on top, good padding of pacing, rhythm, and humor in the middle, and a backing that ties the whole together, which is the actual stitching of wonderfully creative fabric and thread illustrations. A note from Carpenter (Fannie in the Kitchen, p. 410, etc.) explains that she transferred drawings and ironed them onto white linen and used colored thread to define and add details. An original tale just waiting to be told, the coloration and patterns in paisleys and plaids piece together this cozy and fetching story, one that is a delightful fabrication. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-688-15938-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
A well-written fantasy adventure for lovers of pirates and haters of siblings.
Crispin escapes to a world of pirates and dragons in Dickison’s fantasy-adventure novel.
Crispin, a boy around 10 years old, who is white with light-brown spiky hair, has a sister named Rose. She may want to play on a rainy day, but Crispin is already out the door and jumping into a puddle that transports him straight to another world. He joins a frog pirate crew and vows to find a magical sword that so far has eluded his grasp. “Now weigh the anchor, hoist the flag, the plans have all been made: Today we search the seven seas to find the LIGHTNING BLADE!” But before they can even cast off, Rose floats down from the sky on an umbrella. Crispin is against her being on the ship, but her offer of snacks and decluttering is enough to buy her passage. As she works, the pirates sail from whirlpool to jungle and from Lava Peak to Ocean’s End to seek out the missing weapon. Just as Crispin begins to accept Rose’s presence, a red dragon kidnaps her. Dickison’s debut as an author/illustrator has it all: a relatable sibling relationship, powerful treasure, and even cannibals. His depictions of Rose and Crispin in a world of lush color echo the magic of Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbor Totoro (1988). The rhyming couplets provide the story with a traditional lilt that lends it the timelessness of a classic picture book.
A well-written fantasy adventure for lovers of pirates and haters of siblings.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781591281078
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Canonball Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A twisted take on an old standard that just may have readers rewriting their own favorites.
An omniscient narrator battles Hansel and Gretel for control of the story…and loses, to readers’ delight.
At the start, this seems like the standard fairy tale, but it’s not long before the siblings are contradicting the narrator: “What kind of person SAVES bread crumbs?” Gretel asks, and Hansel adds, “It’s a time of great famine. If there are bread crumbs left, we eat them.” These cheeky retorts only grow more numerous as the tale continues. Gretel also flexes her feminist muscles, demanding the title be “Gretel and Hansel” and that she not do chores while Hansel gets fattened up on a candy diet (or swells from a sensitivity to strawberries, as it turns out: “Food allergies are NOT a joke”). Eventually, the narrator gives up trying to fix the tale and gives the two full control, and things quickly get out of hand: Both end up sporting mustaches, there’s a unicorn named Fluffybottom, and the kids are reunited with their completely innocent parents. Taylor’s digital illustrations take the loony text several steps farther, and readers will enjoy the cameos from characters from other familiar tales. Hansel, Gretel, and their parents present white, and the witch is literally white, with a long, pink nose.
A twisted take on an old standard that just may have readers rewriting their own favorites. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5039-0294-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
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