Long years spent stuck inside an old oak tree haven't petrified the wizard Arbican's tongue. On the contrary, he is glad to escape the boredom ("It's the same slow, vegetable sort of business over and over again. One tends to lose interest") and he is positively scathing when Mallory, the girl who rescues him, demands her three wishes ("No enchanter in his right mind would grant one wish to a mortal, let alone three"). However it seems his wizard powers have gone rusty and he soon needs Mallory's help to escape the persecution of Squire Scrupnor, the villain who has already murdered his employer, saddled Mallory's guardians with a ruinous "hypothecation" (mortgage) and plotted to turn the whole village into a coal field. Arbican survives a number of aborted spells, including one that turns him into a talking pig (to the delight of a dim-witted rustic who dubs him a "poll-piggy"). But of course in the end we have our cake and eat it too; after being warned against reliance on wishful thinking, we are given a wonderfully efficient magical solution. The period is the beginning of the industrial revolution, but the tempo is reminiscent of the Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian—quick-witted melodrama and nimble-tongued romanticism.
Pub Date: April 28, 1975
ISBN: 014038801X
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1975
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
In an imaginative wordless picture book, Wiesner (illustrator of Kite Flyer, 1986) tours a dream world suggested by the books and objects in a boy's room. A series of transitions—linked by a map in the book that the boy was reading as he fell asleep—wafts him, pajama-clad, from an aerial view of hedge-bordered fields to a chessboard with chess pieces, some changing into their realistic counterparts (plus a couple of eerie roundheaded figures based on pawns that reappear throughout); next appear a castle; a mysterious wood in which lurks a huge, whimsical dragon; the interior of a neoclassical palace; and a series of fantastic landscapes that eventually transport the boy back to his own bed. Most interesting here are the visual links Wiesner uses in his journey's evolution; it's fun to trace the many details from page to page. There's a bow to Van Allsburg, and another to Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, but Wiesner's broad double-spreads of a dream world—whose muted colors suggest a silent space outside of time—have their own charm. Intriguing.
Pub Date: April 20, 1988
ISBN: 978-0-06-156741-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1988
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