From the team behind Day of Delight (1994), a fictionalized account of the 198491 Falasha exodus from Ethiopia to Israel, narrated in an elevated, almost epic style by 12-year-old Menelik. His father—caught between famine and oppression—decides to leave Ethiopia. Menelik describes their adventures in the mountains and deserts, their passage to Sudan, their flight to Israel, and the modern wonders found there. The narrative is both dramatic and lyrical; evocative images fill the book: ``We ate sunset-colored yogurt. And we drank tea made from tiny paper tents dipped in hot water.'' With great artistry, Schur weaves disparate strands of the story—history, adventure, family drama, etc.—into a polished narrative. The subjects of Pickney's scratchboard illustrations—mainly people— are vividly delineated by fine white curves and hatch marks on the black background. The effect is quite striking: The pictures look like negatives of etchings. A handsome work. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1561-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1995
Eighteen animal adaptations are contrasted with human inventions: people have slickers, while ducks have not only oiled feathers but a down lining; chipmunks lug their groceries in their cheeks (and then sleep in the larder, sinking ``lower and lower into their edible beds''); ants have strong jaws that rival a forklift, and keep aphid ``cows''; etc. Evans presents her concept in an inviting introduction and goes beyond the obvious in a succinct but mind-expanding paragraph or two about each comparison; De Groat contributes some humor in her pictures of the humans, while depicting the animals in crisp, realistic detail. Genuine science; attractive and fun. (Nonfiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: May 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-517-58401-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1992
A country boy forced to stay with smothering city relatives finds some surprising allies in this imaginative, if sketchy, reminiscence. An old man finds a bundle of clothes in his aunt’s now-empty house, and recalls a summer he spent there 65 years ago. Instead of enjoying his beloved swamp, Binky finds himself with a new haircut and itchy new clothes, doing arithmetic problems at the behest of his accountant uncle, and playing cards with an enforced new “friend” who cheats. But loneliness changes to glee when he’s greeted one night by the banjo player on a box of matches and other figures from labels on household products, all of whom come to life. Better yet, Binky becomes a whiz at math and rummy, thanks to his diminutive new allies. Depicting figures with typically lapidary precision, Egielski sets Binky’s wide-eyed face like a huge moon over a coterie of tiny emblems, each rendered in a distinctive style and color. Wells leaves big narrative gaps that give the tale a herky-jerky pacing, but readers will get the gist, and may regard the labels around them with new eyes. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-670-03636-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003
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