Gerstein reworks a historical anecdote about an Englishman who transplanted himself—and a thousand house sparrows—to this country in 1868. Strange as it may seem, the birds were unknown here before the mid-19th century. One John Bardsley, seeing his adopted town of Philadelphia plagued every spring by inchworms that the local birds refuse to eat, recalls the voracious little pests of his youth, and returns to England to round up a flock. Gerstein depicts Bardsley as a smiling, slender gent in muttonchops and a bowler, surrounding him with both contemporaries in period dress and clouds of handsomely feathered sparrows. Adding a doubtless fanciful element to the tale (which isn’t particularly close to fact anyway), he has Bardsley hear, or perhaps dream, that the sparrows talk it over, and volunteer to make the trip. They get a skeptical reception in Philadelphia, but once they have hatchlings to feed, the inchworm plague is history. Gerstein declines to take up a discussion of the now-controversial practice of importing alien species—but that just makes his tale a springboard for discussion, as well as an engaging take on an obscure bit of Americana. (foreword) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-374-37139-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Foster/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
Daisy, the duckling who learned a thing or two about paying attention in Come Along, Daisy! (1998), returns in a story of anticipation, persistence, and faith. This acceptably guileless creature enters situations without fear for the consequences; call it youth. Here she is helping her aunt and her mother tend to their eggs. The aunt’s three ducklings hatch out, while the mother’s green egg remains inert. Daisy hangs in there, lending her warm underbelly to the cause, even after her mother casually notes that “some eggs just don’t hatch.” It is a long night for Daisy, but come morning, a new sibling emerges. Despite the heft of the issues, Simmons never allows them to get ponderous. The artwork is equally open-hearted, capturing Daisy’s wait through a succession of lovely paintings that have a variety of entertaining, quite striking perspectives. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-316-79747-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
This exploration of the fear of the new and different—the strange, as in “stranger”—is so heavily tilted to the gathering worries of the young protagonists that the ultimate meeting with the object of their concern is supremely anticlimactic. Two kittens, Cosy and Posy, are informed by their mother that Giraffe is coming to dinner. Having never met Giraffe, the kittens are at first curious and then increasingly alarmed as they hear from their friends about Giraffe’s oddness, from his long neck and spots to his height. When Giraffe appears, he offers the kittens his neck as a slide and instantly all is right with the world. There is relief, but no sense that the kittens know how baseless their fears were, nor that their trepidations were simply products of their imaginations. Readers may come away with the feeling that the kittens were soothed this time, but that the next time their fears will be just as out of control. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30059-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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