Fleischman's favorite folk-motif, the tell-tale object, is used with panache in this tale of Finzel the fortune-teller—who, in true Fools of Chelm tradition (the jacket says it, but it's so), can see a person's past or future in a lemon or a walnut. . . but can't see well enough to tell whose lemon is whose. Specifically, he mixes up the lemon and the walnut, and the lettuce, of young simpleton Pavel and elderly ailing Mashka, and has Pavel convinced he's near death. When Pavers wily brother Osip catches on to Finzel's blindness, he hatches a scheme to steal Finzel's money—by having Finzel read a poppy plucked from his own window box. . . and telling him where he (Osip) keeps his (Finzel's) money. In true Chelm tradition, too, Finzel outwits Osip by mistake—also making nothing more of him, as a thief, "than a mouse." Sewall's chunky figures are immediately recognizable types, but with character and individuality. A droll and shapely little book—on a par, in its way, with Graven Images.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1983
ISBN: 0525440577
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1983
Utterly enchanting nonsense tale, which children and grown-ups will equally claim. Particularly fishermen, of any age. A small boy drops a fishing line in a farmer's pool and ignores the farmer's scornful comment on the kinds of things he will find in the pool. His imagination plays, instead, with the kinds of things the pool might provide — and the pictures are wonderful,- superb drawing, beautiful color, lots of humor in double page spreads throughout.
Pub Date: Sept. 12, 1947
ISBN: 0394800834
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1947
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A rollicking tale of rivalry.
Sweet Street had just one baker, Monsieur Oliphant, until two new confectionists move in, bringing a sugar rush of competition and customers.
First comes “Cookie Concocter par excellence” Mademoiselle Fee and then a pie maker, who opens “the divine Patisserie Clotilde!” With each new arrival to Sweet Street, rivalries mount and lines of hungry treat lovers lengthen. Children will delight in thinking about an abundance of gingerbread cookies, teetering, towering cakes, and blackbird pies. Wonderfully eccentric line-and-watercolor illustrations (with whites and marbled pastels like frosting) appeal too. Fine linework lends specificity to an off-kilter world in which buildings tilt at wacky angles and odd-looking (exclusively pale) people walk about, their pantaloons, ruffles, long torsos, and twiglike arms, legs, and fingers distinguishing them as wonderfully idiosyncratic. Rotund Monsieur Oliphant’s periwinkle complexion, flapping ears, and elongated nose make him look remarkably like an elephant while the women confectionists appear clownlike, with exaggerated lips, extravagantly lashed eyes, and voluminous clothes. French idioms surface intermittently, adding a certain je ne sais quoi. Embedded rhymes contribute to a bouncing, playful narrative too: “He layered them and cherried them and married people on them.” Tension builds as the cul de sac grows more congested with sweet-makers, competition, frustration, and customers. When the inevitable, fantastically messy food fight occurs, an observant child finds a sweet solution amid the delicious detritus.
A rollicking tale of rivalry. (Picture book. 4-8 )Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-101-91885-2
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
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