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THE PRINCESS OF THE SPRINGS

Name: THE PRINCESS OF THE SPRINGS
Author: Mary Finch
ISBN: 978-1-78285-101-1

From the Princess Stories series

adapted by Mary Finch ; illustrated by Martina Peluso ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2014

This pourquoi tale that explains some of the aspects of the seasonal changes and the reason for rain makes a nice complement...

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Venturing past Disney princesses, here is Ibura, Brazilian Princess of the Springs.

Published as a beginning reader for children who have had some practice, this tale is adapted from one found in a Web-based collection with no further attribution. The vocabulary has been simplified, but the content has not been substantially changed. Ibura is the daughter of the Giantess of the Great River and the Moon Giant. She in turn marries the Sun Giant (amusingly pictured as a little shorter than his new spouse). Ibura insists on her freedom to spend three months each year with her mother. When her baby is born, the Sun Giant refuses to let the infant boy go with his mother; when Ibura’s return is delayed, he marries another wife and abandons the child, until Ibura can return to rescue him. The characters are mythical, but they also have human qualities. There is no information about the specific cultural origins of the story beyond the Amazon (Great River) connections. The stylized illustrations are executed in acrylics and graphite, and the full-bleed double-page spreads are quite attractive for an early reader, though the small type is occasionally hard to make out against the backgrounds.

This pourquoi tale that explains some of the aspects of the seasonal changes and the reason for rain makes a nice complement to Persephone’s story . (Early reader/folk tale. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-78285-101-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Barefoot Books

Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE RED HEN
by Mary Finch ; illustrated by Kate Slater

- BOOK REVIEW
THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF
adapted by Mary Finch & illustrated by Roberta Arenson

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THE GIRL WHO LOVED WILD HORSES

by Paul Goble ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1978

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There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978

ISBN: 0689845049

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bradbury

Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
RED CLOUD'S WAR
by Paul Goble ; illustrated by Paul Goble ; introduction by Robert Lewis

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL OUR RELATIVES
by Paul Goble & illustrated by Paul Goble

- BOOK REVIEW
SONG OF CREATION
by Paul Goble & illustrated by Paul Goble

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THOSE BUILDING MEN

by Angela Johnson & illustrated by Barry Moser ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001

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Vague text and anemic pictures make this at best a half-hearted tribute to the construction workers of the last century or so. In her brief, poetic text Johnson writes of “those shadowy building men . . . moving the earth to connect water,” of “railroad workers . . . who were there to connect all.” She continues: “As buildings tower above us / they tell the tales / of the cities . . . They whisper down past it all and say, / ‘They built us, your fathers . . .’ ” There is little here to engage child readers, either intellectually or emotionally, and Moser’s remote, indistinct portraits of ordinary-looking men (only men) dressed in sturdy working clothes and, mostly, at rest, only intermittently capture any sense of individual or collective effort. In evident recognition of these inadequacies, a prose afterword has been added to explain what the book is about—a superfluous feature had Moser and Johnson produced work up to their usual standards. Let readers spend time more profitably with the likes of John Henry or Mike Mulligan. (Picture book. 6-8)