In the ``African Art and Literature'' series, published in Nairobi, a myth explaining the origins of the Gikuyu community, retold in cadenced biblical prose intended to ``match the flavour which traditional storytellers bring to their performance.'' The story tells how Gikuyu takes to wife Mumbi, who gives birth to nine daughters, ``happy and hardworking,'' who become ``beautiful women who rippled with the beauty of the full moon...while their breasts, full and ripe, stood proud as the dazzling peaks of Kirinyaga.'' When the women beg their parents for husbands, Gikuyu follows his creator's instructions for a ritual that produces nine young men; thus the ``clans of the Agukuyu were formed.'' The story, seamlessly incorporating many details of traditional life, is handsomely illustrated with sweeping, splendidly evocative paintings of the primeval mountains and plains in which the impressionistically sketched figures move with natural grace. Notes; bibliography. In the same series (at $7.95; ISBN: 9966-884-12-2): Nyalgondho wuod-Ombare and the Lost Woman from Lake Victoria, a poetically retold tale about a Luo tribesman who marries a mysterious woman who comes out of the lake and, in time, brings him great wealth. In old age, he turns mean and, drunk, curses her. Vowing revenge with God's help, she walks back into the lake, taking her herds with her. Joel Oswaggo's powerful paintings, in a style recalling Jacob Lawrence's art, are beautifully structured and elegantly framed. Intended for young Kenyans, the books may seem strangely exotic to American readers, but they are authentic, beautifully designed, and well worth introducing. (Folklore/Picture books. 8+)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1993
ISBN: 9966-884-72-6
Page Count: 36
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1993
With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating...
Nicholas is a bright boy who likes to make trouble at school, creatively.
When he decides to torment his fifth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Granger (who is just as smart as he is), by getting everyone in the class to replace the word "pen'' with "frindle,'' he unleashes a series of events that rapidly spins out of control. If there's any justice in the world, Clements (Temple Cat, 1995, etc.) may have something of a classic on his hands. By turns amusing and adroit, this first novel is also utterly satisfying. The chess-like sparring between the gifted Nicholas and his crafty teacher is enthralling, while Mrs. Granger is that rarest of the breed: a teacher the children fear and complain about for the school year, and love and respect forever after.
With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating tale—one to press upon children, and one they'll be passing among themselves. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-689-80669-8
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1996
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister:...
A magnificently creepy fantasy pits a bright, bored little girl against a soul-eating horror that inhabits the reality right next door.
Coraline’s parents are loving, but really too busy to play with her, so she amuses herself by exploring her family’s new flat. A drawing-room door that opens onto a brick wall becomes a natural magnet for the curious little girl, and she is only half-surprised when, one day, the door opens onto a hallway and Coraline finds herself in a skewed mirror of her own flat, complete with skewed, button-eyed versions of her own parents. This is Gaiman’s (American Gods, 2001, etc.) first novel for children, and the author of the Sandman graphic novels here shows a sure sense of a child’s fears—and the child’s ability to overcome those fears. “I will be brave,” thinks Coraline. “No, I am brave.” When Coraline realizes that her other mother has not only stolen her real parents but has also stolen the souls of other children before her, she resolves to free her parents and to find the lost souls by matching her wits against the not-mother. The narrative hews closely to a child’s-eye perspective: Coraline never really tries to understand what has happened or to fathom the nature of the other mother; she simply focuses on getting her parents back and thwarting the other mother for good. Her ability to accept and cope with the surreality of the other flat springs from the child’s ability to accept, without question, the eccentricity and arbitrariness of her own—and every child’s own—reality. As Coraline’s quest picks up its pace, the parallel world she finds herself trapped in grows ever more monstrous, generating some deliciously eerie descriptive writing.
Not for the faint-hearted—who are mostly adults anyway—but for stouthearted kids who love a brush with the sinister: Coraline is spot on. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-97778-8
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2002
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