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THE SECRET LIFE OF BILLIE'S UNCLE MYRON

Name: THE SECRET LIFE OF BILLIE'S UNCLE MYRON
Author: Len Jenkin
ISBN: 0-8050-4395-0

by Len Jenkin & Emily Jenkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1996

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When Billie and her baby brother, Bix, neglected children of rock stars, stow away in their uncle's car, they find themselves transported to the Borderland, a world where animals talk. When Bix is kidnapped by the evil Kingfish, Billie must try to rescue him, with help from a shady crow and a talking wheelchair. No one would ever accuse the father-and-daughter team of Jenkin and Jenkins of lacking imagination, but there's little evidence of discipline or focus anywhere. The endless parade of invention for its own sake rapidly loses control; at first diverting, the action becomes numbing, and readers won't care enough about the characters to keep traipsing after them. Truly original creative turns show promise, but can't compensate for a wild-card plot. (Fiction. 8-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-8050-4395-0

Page Count: 168

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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VISUAL MAGIC

by David Thomson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1991

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An intriguing compilation of optical illusions: images that sort themselves out when studied or that can be read more than one way; op art; an Escher; pictures that gain a third dimension when viewed through the special glasses provided, etc. Several of these have appeared elsewhere, but it's instructive to have them together in this handy eight-inch square book—especially with Thomson's brief but lucid explanations of what is happening when the eye and mind try to decipher images that are designed to confuse them. A dandy introduction to the concept of perception. (Nonfiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-8037-1118-2

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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RAW HEAD, BLOODY BONES

AFRICAN-AMERICAN TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL

edited by Mary E. Lyons ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30, 1991

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A biographer of Zora Neale Hurston (Sorrow's Kitchen, 1990) presents 15 eerie tales featuring ghosts, monsters, and ``Gullah Goblins,'' collected in the Caribbean and the southern US by the Federal Writers' Project and other researchers. Lyons admits to having made some changes and adaptations, but the language remains fluid and evocative: when ``Dead Aaron'' comes back from the grave, his widow demands of a suitor, ``How long us got to put up with this dead corpse?...How long us got to set by us own fire, you and me, and him?'' Lyons appends notes and a large bibliography, and urges young people to read or tell these stories with animation—''And don't forget to add the best part...THE SCREAM!'' (Folklore. 10-12)