Rodanas bases this story of a blind hunter who “sees” better than his sighted companion on a tale from Zimbabwe. When wise Chirobo asks the young hunter Muteye to take him along into the bush, Muteye is skeptical—but it’s old Chirobo who detects the dangerous leopard, warthogs, and rhinos in their path first. Nor is Chirobo fooled when, after seeing what their traps have caught, Muteye surreptitiously switches the thin quail in his for the fat duck in Chirobo’s. Rodanas places her slender, brightly dressed Shona figures in wide South African landscapes, depicts wildlife in a naturalistic way, and creates a visual climax at the end by closing in on Chirobo’s serene, wrinkled visage as he answers Muteye’s shamed question about how one earns forgiveness for unkindness: “By learning to see with the heart.” Library shelves are well-stocked with tales from West Africa; this one, equally suitable for contemplation or discussion, arises from a different, more southerly, tradition. (source note) (Picture book/folktale. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7614-5132-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
The crew that made friends with The New Kid on Spurwink Ave. (1992) is back with another story exploring the gap between supposition and reality. This time, after Crater makes a tactless remark about ``sissy-girls,'' the gang splits up. But when the Broad Cove Bullies accost the three boys, tease them about their association with the four girls, and challenge them to a race (``your gang's fastest rider against ours...Losers wash winners' bikes''), truth strikes: only T-Ball has a chance of winning, and she's still miffed. Still, her own loyalty and the boys' belated diplomacy help her come around in time to win. The kids are amusingly characterized in Carter's energetic, freely rendered watercolors; their lively dialogue is the book's strongest suit. Fine for reading aloud or alone, a story that's entertaining enough to carry its rather obvious message. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-316-16231-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
A ``Bank Street Ready-to-Read'' (Level 3) that combines the Amelia Bedelia variety of comic literal-mindedness and an adventure story with a satisfying final twist. Hijacked by pirates, ``Lo-Jack'' alternately amuses and dumbfounds his captors by misconstruing their orders (whether to ``hit the deck,'' ``weigh the anchor,'' or ``cut the sails''), finally escaping by—instead of firing a cannon at their assailants- -lighting a fire under it and thus blowing up the pirates' ship. Good fun, ably visualized in Tusa's energetic art. (Easy reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: June 3, 1991
ISBN: 0-553-07092-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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