The inhabitants of Number 11 have crafted an enticing world, but there isn’t enough here to invite readers back for a second...
This hit-or-miss rhyming catalog of the neighbors who live on the narrators’ (ostensibly the author and illustrator’s) street may leave readers wishing for more detail.
The unusual neighborhood features some true characters, each with a home that matches their occupation or personality. “Lightfingers” Louie lives at Number 2, and his concrete home includes bars on the windows, floodlights all around and a second-story balcony edged with barbed wire. The dancer lives in a Romani wagon–type house, while sailor Charlie Noble lives in a boat-shaped dwelling. Other residents include a cowboy, a queen, a cook and a man who has filled his house with empty bottles. The rhymes and rhythms mostly work, though the verses are too short to really introduce the eccentric neighbors: “Our Auntie, named Fritzi MacFluff, / Lives with her kitties, Sniffy and Snuff. / Her house is all knitted from yarn, / But you’ll find she gives not a darn!” Fienieg paints vivid portraits of the eclectic homes on the left-hand pages, their occupants opposite them. But a few may have readers (and parents) scratching their heads: Mr. Cree drinks tea and his house has distinct rounded towers—Middle Eastern? Russian? Or are they tea cozies? And in her fishbowl home, the Merry Maide’s voluptuous bosoms are not entirely contained within her seashells.
The inhabitants of Number 11 have crafted an enticing world, but there isn’t enough here to invite readers back for a second visit. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-9359-5424-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lemniscaat USA
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
The kimonos in this title are shown on “creative” (non-traditional) Kokeshi that have evolved from their origins as stickers...
Kokeshi, northern Japanese wooden folk dolls, are painted with differently designed kimonos that denote the area in which they are made and form the inspiration for this pretty novelty.
The kimonos in this title are shown on “creative” (non-traditional) Kokeshi that have evolved from their origins as stickers in France. (Their images are also produced on notecards and journals.) A stilted text, translated from French, accompanies these commercialized, cartoon-like images. The glossy, heavy stock, saturated with a sophisticated palette of black, brown, maroon, bluish-gray and green, teems with kawaii kokeshi— “super cute little wooden dolls”—who talk and act like contemporary little girls. Readers are invited to find the right sash, fan and hair bow to match Kimiyo’s outfit. They locate Yumi’s apartment by lifting the flap that matches her sash. A large gate-fold page reveals Yumi’s family members and another game that involves matching designs to determine her maternal and paternal families. A schoolroom scene shows the days of the week, both in transliteration and in Japanese characters. There are more words to learn when a star (hoshi), a rabbit (usagi) and a pair of socks (tabi), among other objects, serve as inspiration for funny hairstyles that appear when a die-cut page turns.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4521-0493-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
Devoid of energy, but greeting-card pretty.
A candy-colored version of the classic tale completely lacks teeth and claws.
The three little pigs’ widowed mother sends them out into the world to make their way. The first, carrying his guitar on his back, begs a kind man for the straw he carries and builds himself a nice little house. The wolf comes by, the predictable conversation ensues and the piggy escapes. The second pig carries his brushes and papers, asks a kind man for some sticks and builds a place with an easel en plein air. The house has a convenient back door, so he too escapes when the wolf does his thing. The third pig, carrying his tools, is clearly into construction; his carefully built brick house (bricks a gift of a third kind man) is gorgeous. The wolf tries the chimney, is smoked out and runs away, the third pig collects his mom and siblings and they live happily ever after. Sunny colors and lots of cute details make for pleasant page-turning: Pig number two sits reading a version of Little Red Riding Hood in the last scene, possibly trying to track down the latest venue of the wolf.
Devoid of energy, but greeting-card pretty. (Picture book/fairy tale. 4-6)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4058-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2011
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