A new slant on three familiar tales, featuring a cast of benevolent monsters. In “Peas,” Thugmond, a round, green monster prince, would like to marry his monster friend, Griselda, but his parents disapprove because she’s not royalty. After the “real” princess makes such a rude fuss about a tiny pea buried under her stack of mattresses, though, Thugmond’s parents see Griselda in a new light. In “Bean,” Jack steals the proverbial goose that lays the golden eggs and clambers down the beanstalk ahead of the monster, a great hairy purple fellow. But when the monster gets injured in his fall Jack’s mother takes pity on him and chastises Jack for stealing. In the end the three live happily ever after, together. “Monster Stew” is a takeoff on Hansel and Gretel, starring two fuzzy young monsters who eat everything in sight. The dialogue in “Peas” is funny and well-timed; character development makes “Beans” the most effective story overall; “Monster Stew,” while funny, is a one-joke story that goes on too long. The humor is amplified by details of Modarressi’s fully saturated watercolors; in one of the finest scenes in the book, the giant makes furrows for Jack by dragging his large fingers through the soil. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-7894-2517-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1998
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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