Order something else.
A boy with an obnoxious habit finds a vocation—and maybe a dash of maturity—in the kitchen.
Ackerman buries his message, if any, beneath a deluge of so-clever bons mots. As the white child protagonist stops screaming only when he’s fed, his harried parents ply him with so much chickpea curry and “luscialicious” linguini that he grows too fat to fit in the door. When some burned chicken sparks a fresh tantrum they throw in the dish towel and tell him to serve up his own meals—whereupon he becomes more enamored of cooking than eating, slims down, and opens a restaurant. The screams start up again after a food critic’s “scrump-diddly-icious” rave brings so much frantic business that the lad tops a sundae with a chicken leg and plops his mother on a plate of lentils. Her threat to close the cafe if he doesn’t stop the noise leads to a high-volume apology, songs rather than screams, and a fresh stream of delectable creations: “A girl tasted the molten chocolate lava cake, jumped up and recited the alphabet in Swahili. (And she didn’t even know Swahili).” Nor, it turns out, does Dalton, who represents that white girl’s outburst with a cloud of random shapes. Overall, the illustrations fail either to echo the narrative’s labored air of sophistication or even to make the food plated up for a racially diverse array of diners look appetizing.
Order something else. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-56792-598-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Godine
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bruchac and Farnsworth honor the Indians of the Northeast, the written versions of the tale, and the elders and Wabanaki...
An Abenaki retelling of a traditional story of various indigenous nations of the Northeast that centers on loyalty and humans’ relation to nature.
Long ago, a young man travels north to hunt throughout the winter. One day, as he is following the tracks of a moose, he realizes he is lonely and wishes out loud for a partner. Returning to his lodge, he finds a fire burning and food waiting, but there is no one there. This goes on for days; on the seventh night he finds a woman waiting inside. The young man and woman develop a relationship based on respect and loyalty, and the hunter promises to always remember her. When he returns to his village in the spring, he finds himself pressured to take a wife. This tension eventually leads the hunter to live a double life, testing his devotion to and respect for the “great family of life.” Through his scenic paintings, Farnsworth evokes the light, seasons, and life in the forested mountains of the Northeast, supporting Bruchac’s words and achieving a striking visual depiction of the environment of Abenaki peoples. The narrative itself is elliptical, offering literal readers a story of loyalty but founding it on a subtle exploration of the spirit world and its relation to ours.
Bruchac and Farnsworth honor the Indians of the Northeast, the written versions of the tale, and the elders and Wabanaki tellers who keep this story alive. (author’s note) (Picture book/folk tale. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-937786-43-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wisdom Tales
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
Another playful imagination-stretcher from the author of Look! and Tickle Monster (both 2015). (Picture book. 6-8)
A ravening wolf, several potential victims, a wild chase, an ambush, and a spectacular reversal of fortune make for an exciting tale—even when all the characters stay home due to bad weather.
At once metafictive and interactive, the plotline is presented as a recurring story that runs its preordained course whenever its “keeper,” Mr. Warbler, steps out of his cottage to set the Big Bad Wolf to chasing a “delectable” pig, a clever hare, and a flying squirrel with a hot air balloon into the house of a former circus bear. This last blasts the predator out through a giant trumpet and so sends him away limping and muttering. That’s how the story goes on sunny days, at least. But today it happens to be raining—so though the narrative provides a blow-by-blow account of narrow escapes and lickety-split action, none of the cast, from keeper on, ever actually appears in Manceau’s deserted scenes of blocky, buttoned-up houses and geometrically tidy woodlands. No matter: with or without drawing materials, young readers will have little trouble conjuring up suitably colorful figures and dramatic tableaux of their own to superimpose on the backdrops. When, finally, the sun comes out, the narrator’s closing assurance that the story can now “start for real…” ends the exercise on a droll note.
Another playful imagination-stretcher from the author of Look! and Tickle Monster (both 2015). (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-77147-151-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
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