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THE WAY HOME

Name: THE WAY HOME
Author: Lesley Koplow
ISBN: 0-525-93517-7

A CHILD THERAPIST LOOKS AT THE INNER LIVES OF CITY CHILDREN

by Lesley Koplow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 10, 1992

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Psychotherapist Koplow (Where Rag Dolls Hide Their Faces, 1990), director of the Karen Horney Therapeutic Nursery in N.Y.C., has much to say about children who need to build safe homes within themselves to make up for a society deficient in both housing and safety. She also tells entirely too much about her own needs, stress, and vacations. The kindergarten children in a therapeutic group at a Bronx mental-health center are frightened at Christmastime: The idea of Santa Claus sparks fears of a blood-red man who can get into their apartments despite security buzzers and locked doors. That's just one of the surprising and heartbreaking moments in Koplow's account. Homeless subway-dweller Opal (who, from her crib, witnessed her own mother's murder) and her three-year-old daughter Qimmy seem mutually devoted—but to live together, they need more than an apartment: Opal, who loves caring for sedentary ``little babies,'' says that she can't ``take care of no walking babies.'' To her credit, Koplow tries to show how the realities of urban life create problems for middle- and upper-income children as well. A 14-year-old Jewish honor-student, for example—a private patient of Koplow's named Ronnie—becomes too psychosomatically ill to attend school. But the link here to urban decay is not convincing: Though Ronnie is frightened by homeless women on the subway, the real issue dates back to family memories of the Holocaust and her mother's suicidal breakdown. And Koplow rather annoyingly includes her own steps toward a desired home: e.g., vacationing at a singles' resort in Jamaica where she ``wore a black flowered outfit with colored glass buttons and sat at a piano bar drinking Kahl£a and cream,'' or, over Chinese food, commiserating about being single with her also-unmarried brother. When Koplow focuses on the children, she is partisan, compassionate, and informed.

Pub Date: Dec. 10, 1992

ISBN: 0-525-93517-7

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ELLIE THE DELI CAT FINDS A FRIEND
written and illustrated by Lesley Koplow

- BOOK REVIEW
POPCORN’S LOST AND FOUND
written and illustrated by Lesley Koplow

- BOOK REVIEW
POPCORN COMES TO SCHOOL
by Lesley Koplow

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.