Commanded by their queen, a company of sprites unbraids a girl’s hair and finds more than they bargained for including buttons and thimbles, limos and taxis, even a sleeping bear in poet Esckelson’s debut for children. “The copper braid of Shannon O’Shea / Was unbraided one fall on account of the hay / Which had tangled into the plaits of her hair, / But nobody knew what else snarled in there,” Esckelson begins. Newton’s (The Stonecutter: An Indian Folktale, 1990) sinuous illustrations, with fine black pen outlining the images, are intricately detailed, and wend their way across double-page spreads as Shannon’s hair unleashes a tidal wave of wonders. Esckelson’s fast-paced rhyme tells readers what to look for. As the jacket explains, she was inspired to write the story by “various myths about women’s unbound hair releasing abundance and chaos into the world.” She succeeds in interpreting these myths for a young audience and is perfectly teamed with Newton. Together, they immerse readers in a hairy nether world, rendering real the innumerable objects and tiny creatures that just might dwell atop our heads and inside our locks, waiting to be set free. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-525-46138-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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