In faux blog posts, a young resident of Tenochtitlán describes his training at a military school, confused melees with bands of warriors from rival cities and the portent-ridden arrival of Cortés. Considering himself more priest than warrior material (those being the two choices available), Yoatl chronicles his unhappiness as in various misadventures he inadvertently captures an enemy lad, then helps him escape being bloodily sacrificed and goes on to become a captive himself before falling in with the strange and duplicitous Spaniards. Side panels (“hyperlinked” to his narrative) offer encyclopedia-style entries on his culture’s theology and general customs—all accompanied by an undifferentiated blend of new illustrations and unsourced period art. Readers will be left with a clear sense of that culture’s pervasive fatalism but only vague notions about how the Aztecs lived their daily lives. A participant in the 1212 Children’s Crusade supplies a similarly hybridized report in Kids at the Crossroads: Crusades, illustrated by John Mantha (ISBN: 978-1-55451-147-1, paper: 978-1-55451-146-4). Both volumes try for too much and end up offering neither a properly developed story line nor a coherent picture of their narrators’ historical contexts. (Infofiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-55451-177-8
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2009
A thrilling story, at once preposterous and divinely ingenious. The rude and awful outlaw Ubo Skald has laid siege to the kingdom of Beda; all the villagers and their stock have taken refuge behind Beda’s thick walls. Although the invaders have so far been kept at bay, Birgitta the Brave, the princess-ruler, is certain the seige will eventually succeed because they don’t have enough food. Counsel from the town elders is futile, for they are a witless lot; Birgitta devises a plan of her own. Among its highlights: dressing five mischievous village children as goats, a dangerous foray by the disguised princess to the outlaw camp, and a goodly dose of trickery that preys upon the robbers’ superstitions. This outrageous story is based on actual events—Swedes attacking a German town, children dressing as goats to confuse the invaders—tweaked only slightly by Lewis (Boshblobberbosh, 1998, etc.), who knows (and then retells) a good story when he hears it. Natchev’s paintings have the delicate and sumptuous qualities of religious icons, resembling the tapestries on which other grand stories have been told, but far funnier. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8037-1870-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
PLB 0-531-33140-7 Ketcham’s first book is based on an allegedly true story of a childhood incident in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. It starts with a couple of pages regaling the Bach home and all the Johanns in the family, who made their fame through music. After his father’s death, Johann Sebastian goes to live with his brother, Johann Christoph, where he boasts that he is the best organist in the world. Johann Christoph contradicts him: “Old Adam Reincken is the best.” So Johann Sebastian sets out to hear the master himself. In fact, he is humbled to tears, but there is hope that he will be the world’s best organist one day. Johann Sebastian emerges as little more than a brat, Reincken as more of a suggestion than a character. Bush’s illustrations are most transporting when offering details of the landscape, but his protagonist is too impish to give the story much authority. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30140-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
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