This pourquoi tale with a trickster slant, translated from the French, introduces the symbols of the Chinese zodiac. When the Great Emperor of Heaven invites all the animals to visit him before sunrise at the top of Jade Mountain, the rascally rat neglects to wake his friend, the cat, sneaks a ride between the ox’s horns and lands first at the emperor’s feet. The ruler rewards the rat’s cunning with the first year, and continues to grant each successive year to the next one in line, extolling each animal’s virtues in the process. Having missed its turn, the duped cat now considers the rat his enemy. This tall, slim book features Louis’s striking red-and-black linoleum prints, a double-page zodiac wheel and Wang Fei’s elegant calligraphy depicting each zodiac symbol; it is an apt companion to the team’s previous retelling, Legend of the Chinese Dragon (2008). Despite occasionally stiff prose, the story’s unique subject and engaging artwork create an enjoyable resource for celebrating Chinese New Year and may prompt children to invent their own symbols and attributes. (Picture book/folktale. 6-10)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-7358-2220-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Keena Ford’s second-grade class is taking a field trip to the United States Capitol. This good-hearted girl works hard to behave, but her impulsive decisions have a way of backfiring, no matter how hard she tries to do the right thing. In this second book in a series, Keena cuts off one of her braids and later causes a congressman to fall down the stairs. The first-person journal format is a stretch—most second graders can barely write, let alone tell every detail of three days of her life. Children will wonder how Keena can cut one of her “two thick braids” all the way off by pretend-snipping in the air. They will be further confused because the cover art clearly shows Keena with a completely different hairdo on the field trip than the one described. Though a strong African-American heroine is most welcome in chapter books and Keena and her family are likable and realistic, this series needs more polish before Keena writes about her next month in school. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3264-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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