When his mother suggests he ``go build something,'' Armstrong constructs a ladder to the clouds, and as the numbered clouds pass bysix, seven, eighthe lassos the ninth as his personal refuge in the sky. Cloud Nine is not only a place of refuge, where Armstrong can escape from his boisterous family, it's also a bed, a trampoline, and a vehicle. Despite pleas and messages from his family, sent via the mailman, planes, and mountain climbers, Armstrong refuses to come down. Familial guilt, refreshingly, just isn't strong enough to make Armstrong abandon his aerial adventures. It's only when his cloud gets snagged on a sharp mountain peak, that Armstrong is forced to land; his family rushes to welcome him back into the noisy fold. Anyone who's ever cloud-gazed or flown through a bank of clouds in an airplane will identify with Silver's fantasy of escaping into the sky, to take refuge from earth's clutter. Ormerod's paintings extend the fantasy element effortlessly, often through wordless panels. Science may not allow humans to float on clouds like inner tubes, or sky surf on a jet-powered cumulus, but this book's paean to the imagination will transport readers easily, believably, up to Armstong's cottony retreat. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 21, 1995
ISBN: 0-395-73545-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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