bookshelf

MR. TANEN'S TIES

Name: MR. TANEN'S TIES
Author: Maryann Cocca-Leffler
ISBN: 0-8075-5301-8

by Maryann Cocca-Leffler ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1999

bookshelf

The importance of accessorizing is given an injection of humor in this story from Cocca-Leffler (illustrator of Michelle Poploff’s Tea Party for Two, 1997, etc.). Mr. Tanen, the school principal, allows his ties (similar to Ms. Frizzle’s dresses and earrings) to speak for him; they serve as weather forecasts, herald the lunch menu, bespeak special occasions. The students love his ties for their whimsy and good cheer, as well as for the information they impart. But Mr. Tanen’s boss, the sour Mr. Apple, orders that the neckwear be ditched; it’s distracting and frivolous. Mr. Tanen, understandably, has to take a few days off. Mr. Apple is called to substitute, and the children attempt to bevel his hard edges with a zany tie of his own. He becomes a changed man; in fact, he marries a woman who has been admiring the ties he borrows from Mr. Tanen’s cache. Cocca-Leffler shows Mr. Tanen for the gentleman he is, and makes the realm of adults a lot less formidable, and a lot more eccentric. Children will admire the ties, the wildly patterned illustrations, and the message that clothes may not make the man, but may make the day a little bit brighter. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-8075-5301-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Whitman

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

bookshelf

THE LITTLEST MATRYOSHKA

by Corinne Demas Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

bookshelf

PLB 0-7868-2125-6 As is true for Pam Conrad’s Tub People, the events in a matryoshka doll’s life depend on external manipulations and circumstances; in this case, it makes the story of a perilous journey fall somewhat flat. A set of the nesting dolls is carved in a Russian village and then sent to a toy shop in America. The outer doll, Anna, has been instructed by the maker to watch over her siblings—“Keep your sisters safe inside you”—but there is nothing she can do when the smallest doll, Nina, is accidentally brushed off the counter and unceremoniously kicked out the door. It is an odyssey in which she has absolutely no active part, nor does she have reactions, for all she possesses is a blank matryoshka face. In the meantime, a young girl who has bought the rest of the set on sale charmingly tucks a little wad of cotton into the next-to-smallest doll so she won’t feel empty. Brown’s atmospheric but docile watercolors often view the matryoshka dolls from a distance, furthering the sense that the story is about events surrounding the dolls, instead of the dolls themselves. An author’s note on the history of matryoshkas is a welcome touch. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-7868-0153-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

bookshelf

IN THE PALM OF DARKNESS

by Mayra Montero & translated by Edith Grossman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1997

bookshelf

In The Palm Of Darkness ($21.00; May 1997; 192 pp.; 0-06-018703- 4): A Cuban writers's intensely imaginative portrait of the extremities of Haitian culture rings some fresh changes on the overfamiliar theme of intellectual arrogance humbled by its collision with ``elemental'' peasant wisdom. Montero subtly builds up a revealing contrast between Victor Griggs, a European herpetologist searching for the remaining specimens of an endangered species of amphibian, and his native guide Thierry Adrien's memories of his family's encounter with the island's ubiquitous spirits. This truly original novel is studded with surprises—not least of which is the concept of a species suddenly and entirely disappearing in a milieu where the living and the dead are known to mingle together more or less matter-of-factly. A refreshingly sophisticated treat. (Author tour)