A collaboration between the creator of The Rag Coat (1991) and the creator of The Castle Builder (1993) results in an anemic, predictable tale of a wingless fairy saving her sept from a troll and getting engaged to a prince. Fia, scorned by her seven sisters, mends the wing of a passing fairy who (no surprise) turns out to be Prince Hyacinth. She accepts his invitation to the May Dance, arriving in time to see all the fairies netted by a troll, and contrives a rescue. The prose is limp; occasional efforts to enliven it—one character uses a sock to blow his nose—come off as vulgar instead of earthy. Fia and her kin adopt mannered poses in slightly blurred paintings that appear to be coated with yellow varnish. Challenge lovers of wee folk with David Christiana's surprising, considerably less conventional White Nineteens (1992) instead. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-316-57397-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Tammy Collins feels like a nobody because her father, who left a year ago, hasn't been in touch with her since; her pain and confusion lead to name-calling, lying, and stealing. A disabled bookstore-owner and Tammy's older sister help her to restore her faith in herself and make amends. The plot's sound but flawed by a clumsily handled fantasy subplot about a flying mouse and by unlikely motivation (readers are asked to accept that fourth graders believe in monsters and aliens; that an estranged couple- -absent serious pathology—would allow a year to pass without any contact between father and children; and that paraplegia can be overcome by force of will); the story is also cluttered with unnecessary incidents and with a message—``Believe in yourself''- -that's tediously overstated. (Fiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-395-61628-X
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Young Goolam-Habib has not spoken since the night the forest burned, but at last an old man draws him out by inviting him to help make scarecrows for the strawberry fields. Working together with straw, scraps, and old clothes, the two build an amusing family: a man astride an ostrich, a wife, and their daughter, riding a bicycle. Dooling's expressive, realistic people are depicted against more freely rendered settings that are muted and frequently shadowy. The straw figures, too, are blurred, but their gangly awkwardness adds a happier note to this rather somber tale of intergenerational friendship. Rupert emphasizes the story's universality by leaving many details to conjecture—how Goolam- Habib came to be orphaned; even the setting, which might be South Africa. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 22, 1993
ISBN: 0-671-77047-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1993
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