When the stranded fish that a couple has rescued offers to grant a wish, they ask for a child—but then reject the fish's first two offerings: ``That girl is completely black...That boy is entirely brown, and we are white.'' After the couple spurns two more orphans because ``they are all yellow,'' the fish leaves them in disgust. Years later the fish returns, to find the couple and their Asian children living happily together. The artist, an Indonesian who works in the Netherlands (this was originally published in Germany), uses delicate pen strokes to show facial expressions and to solidify selected details in his simple watercolor scenes. The visual narrative, punctuated by eye-catching arrays of sea life, tops a brief, unembroidered text. An international group of children parading across the endpapers makes a fetching invitation to this well-meaning, attractively turned-out book, but the color stereotyping in the story is a serious flaw. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 31, 1992
ISBN: 0-02-750945-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
During Valentine's week, second-grader Mattie exchanges an amusing series of gifts with a ``secret friend''—dreaded class rowdy Jeb—who is also her secret admirer; during spring vacation, she peddles pesky little brother Emmett, finds a taker- -and promptly realizes that she misses him; and, in a summer episode that links the other two, she and Jeb build a treehouse and give Emmett a disastrous haircut. There's not much subtlety here, either in the events or in Lehman's bold, cartoony b&w art, but the narrative is brisk and appealing, the plotting reasonably deft, the feelings genuinely childlike. A satisfactory early chapter book for kids not quite ready for the Haywoods. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 15, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-09730-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1992
An introduction for young children, featuring large action photos in full color, an easy text, and an appended note for parents. Grosshandler describes and illustrates the (minimal) equipment needed, rules, field positions, ways to move the ball, penalties, and safety practices, then takes readers quickly through a game between two young, mixed teams. Like the author's Everyone Wins at Tee Ball (1990), this will give prospective players, and their parents, a good idea of what they're getting into. (Nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-525-65064-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
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