The life of the real St. Nicholas, patron saint of brides, young boys, and seafarers, is laid out in episodic text and artwork. While St. Nicholas’s generosity led people to celebrate his feast day long before Dr. Clement Moore penned his famous poem, he is largely unknown to most people today. His beneficence began when he heard of a father who could no longer support his three unwed daughters. By throwing bags of money through an open window on three successive nights, he provided the sisters with the dowry they needed to wed, and saved them from being sold into slavery. On almost every page, the reader learns of miraculous occurrences associated with St. Nicholas—from discovering the murderer of three young boys and bringing them back to life, to a time he fed the people during a famine in an event very like the Bible story of the loaves and fishes. Although the text shows several “Santas,” the main focus is on the life of the saint, not on the transition in popularity from St. Nicholas to Santa Claus. The luminous illustrations are reproductions of paintings done in the 13th through 16th centuries. The vibrant pictures glow with an illuminated manuscript-type quality rarely seen in books meant for children. Unfortunately, they are not captioned, but rather listed in the back and indexed by page number—a difficult system when the pages of the book are themselves not numbered. Nonetheless, Mayer’s (The Twelve Apostles, not reviewed, etc.) work is a wonderful tribute to the saint whose generosity is celebrated every year. (Nonfiction. 7-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2624-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The familiar starling, gypsy moth, and kudzu vine are all alien to North America, wreaking havoc on established plant and animal ecosystems and threatening biodiversity. This visually striking and readable title describes what happens to ecosystems when alien plants or animals are introduced by accident or intention. The author explains why island environments are especially vulnerable, with examples from Australia, overwhelmed with 500 million rabbits, and Hawaii, where domestic pigs damaged fern ponds producing breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Young readers may be surprised to learn that the gypsy moth was brought to North America to develop a local silk industry and Brazilian beekeepers imported African bees to improve local honeybee stock; both with disastrous results. Some species come as tagalongs: the zebra mussel, clogging the Great Lakes; fire ant, damaging crops and injuring livestock in ten southern states; and caulerpa algae, destroying sea life in the Mediterranean seabed. The examples throughout are thought-provoking, the illustrations outstanding, and the concluding words on steps to take to keep aliens out are helpful and practical. Doyle, who specializes in environmental art, provides handsome, double-paged portraits of animals both native and new to their natural habitat, using a footnote to clue readers into which are which. Fascinating. (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 1-56145-236-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2003
Here’s a young mover-and-shaker who will stay with readers for a long time. Wondering why children never march in the big Frogg Day parade, Hazel sets about making a change, first bringing around the children in her apartment building, then striking a deal with the parade’s child-hating Marshall. Having finally gotten the children to work together to design and build a float, she needs all of her resources, both to woo a standoffish classmate into her camp, and then to regain her own spot in the parade after a rival takes over the project. Hirsch handles a temporary falling out between Hazel and her best adult friend a bit clumsily, but brings the tale along nicely to a rousing conclusion filled with noise, joy, and confetti. Readers who enjoy meeting strong-minded characters who can shrug off reverses, muse over similarities between a flower bouquet and a poem, and speak as equals both to grownups and other children, will be delighted with Hazel Green. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2003
ISBN: 1-58234-820-0
Page Count: 188
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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