In a poetic look at life in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, High (Under New York, p. 184, etc.) takes the reader through the seasons, illuminating the existence of Plain People. Highlighting the lack of modern conveniences, this educational view begins with spring, a time for picking flowers, fishing, and plowing the land. In summer, the corn is shucked, the cows are milked, and when the long day ends, weary ones lie down for a restful night’s sleep. A climatic shift and chromatic change in landscape produce autumn, where crops are preserved for winter meals and pumpkins are made ripe for selling. In winter, quilting by the fire and sipping hot chocolate prevent the cold from biting when anticipation for warmer days builds. Through all they’ve done to nurture their simple way of life with each new year, these folks know that a season or even a day is not complete without giving thanks to the Lord for all they have. A thin layer of oil clings to the canvas as cool shades and bright light spread across the fields as Farnsworth (Prairie School, p. 494, etc.) brings this community to life. Bold, brilliant colors are reserved for summer skies and winter quilts, while neutral shades and barely-there sketches give detail to the people, their land, and animals. Illustrations and prose magically come together in this rich view of a culture that’s reminiscent of a peaceful dream. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8028-5207-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This heavily earnest celebration of multi-ethnicity combines full-bleed paintings of smiling children, viewed through a golden haze dancing, playing, planting seedlings, and the like, with a hyperbolic, disconnected text—``Dark as leopard spots, light as sand,/Children buzz with laughter that kisses our land...''— printed in wavy lines. Literal-minded readers may have trouble with the author's premise, that ``Children come in all the colors of the earth and sky and sea'' (green? blue?), and most of the children here, though of diverse and mixed racial ancestry, wear shorts and T-shirts and seem to be about the same age. Hamanaka has chosen a worthy theme, but she develops it without the humor or imagination that animates her Screen of Frogs (1993). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11131-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1994
A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots.
Poems on various topics by the actor/screenwriter and his kids.
In collaboration with his now-grown children—particularly daughter Erin, who adds gently humorous vignettes and spot art to each entry—Bob Odenkirk, best known for his roles in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, dishes up a poetic hodgepodge that is notably loose jointed in the meter and rhyme departments. The story also too often veers from child-friendly subjects (bedtime-delaying tactics, sympathy for a dog with the zoomies) to writerly whines (“The be-all and end-all of perfection in scribbling, / no matter and no mind to any critical quibbling”). Some of the less-than-compelling lines describe how a “plane ride is an irony / with a strange and wondrous duplicity.” A few gems are buried in the bunch, however, like the comforting words offered to a bedroom monster and a frightened invisible friend, not to mention an invitation from little Willy Whimble, who lives in a tuna can but has a heart as “big as can be. / Come inside, / stay for dinner. / I’ll roast us a pea!” They’re hard to find, though. Notwithstanding nods to Calef Brown, Shel Silverstein, and other gifted wordsmiths in the acknowledgments, the wordplay in general is as artificial as much of the writing: “I scratched, then I scrutched / and skrappled away, / scritching my itch with great / pan-a-ché…” Human figures are light-skinned throughout.
A lackluster collection of verse enlivened by a few bright spots. (Poetry. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9780316438506
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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