THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A VINEGAR BOTTLE

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THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A VINEGAR BOTTLE

Name: THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A VINEGAR BOTTLE
Author: Margaret Read MacDonald
ISBN: 0-87483-415-5

A BRITISH FAIRY TALE

adapted by Margaret Read MacDonald & illustrated by Nancy Fowlkes Dunaway ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1995

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This fluent British version of ``The Fisherman and His Wife'' features only two characters: a discontented old woman living in an uncommonly large vinegar bottle, and an obliging fairy who provides her with increasingly palatial housingbut sends her back where she came from when she demands to be Empress of the Universe. MacDonald (The Storyteller's Sourcebook, 1982, etc.) is in fine form, preceding the tale with a learned discussion of variants and other editions, and then rendering it in a rapid, comic style``But when the fairy came near/there sat the old woman . . . complaining./`Oh what a pity!/What a pity pity pity!' '' Fowlkes's illustrations, in reds, yellows, and purples, spill energetically from their wide frames, centering on the old woman's determinedand in the end, chagrinedcountenance, every bit of space crammed with pattern and color. Excellent for reading aloud or alone. (Picture book/folklore. 7-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-87483-415-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little Folk/August House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
TOUGH TUG
by Margaret Read MacDonald ; illustrated by Rob McClurkan

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BYE BYE BIG!
by Margaret Read MacDonald & Gerald Fierst ; illustrated by Kitty Harvill

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WISHING FOXES
by Margaret Read MacDonald with Jen Whitman & Nat Whitman ; illustrated by Kitty Harvill

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RIVER STORY

by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2000

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Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: June 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
CELEBRITY CAT
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Bee Willey

- BOOK REVIEW
GOLD QUEST
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Stephen Biesty

- BOOK REVIEW
STEPHEN BIESTY’S CASTLES
by Meredith Hooper & illustrated by Stephen Biesty

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BOOKMARKS ARE PEOPLE TOO!

From the Here's Hank series , Vol. 1

by Henry Winkler ; Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Scott Garrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2014

An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.

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Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.

Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.

An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)