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AMAL AND THE LETTER FROM THE KING

Name: AMAL AND THE LETTER FROM THE KING
Author: Rabindranath Tagore
ISBN: 1-56397-120-8

by Rabindranath Tagore & adapted by Chitra Gajadin & illustrated by Helen Ong ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 1992

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``Men of learning always stay inside,'' says housebound Amal's uncle, hoping to persuade the child that the illness preventing him from playing outside will someday be an advantage. But Amal craves everything about the world beyond, from flowers brought by a village girl to the vistas on Heron Island. Through his window, he talks with passersby, hoping to learn what he is missing. Finally, word comes that the king himself is coming to take Amal for a journey by elephant, and the boy sinks blissfully, painlessly, into sleep—perhaps forever. Here, unfortunately, a contrived, overdone sense of mystery may make young readers feel as claustrophobic as Amal. And Ong's light- drenched paintings—while rooting the tale in its Indian setting- -fail to offset the heavy-handed tone of a text taken out of context (The Post Office, a play). Ultimately, the allegory raises far more questions than answers on weighty issues beyond the ken of the picture book audience—like associating book knowledge, imagination, and the life of the mind with the confining indoors, while the real world of experience is all but missing. (Picture book. 7-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1992

ISBN: 1-56397-120-8

Page Count: 34

Publisher: Boyds Mills

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
PAPER BOATS
by Rabindranath Tagore & illustrated by Grayce Bochak

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BOOK UNCLE AND ME

by Uma Krishnaswami ; illustrated by Julianna Swaney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016

Yasmin’s campaign should help inspire young readers to believe in their own potential to make a difference and teach the...

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When her source of books is threatened, so is 9-year-old Yasmin’s goal of reading a book a day “forever.”

The inspiration behind and assistant to her in that goal is Book Uncle, owner of a free lending library on the street corner where she lives. His motto is to provide the “right book for the right person for the right day.” When Book Uncle is forced to shut down his lending library because he can’t afford the permit, Yasmin is disappointed and confused. She is then motivated to try and get the lending library back in business and enlists the help of her friends and then their larger neighborhood. All this happens amid a mayoral election, which provides the perfect background for the plot. Yasmin is a precocious, inquisitive protagonist with a tendency to speak before she thinks. Her relationships with her family and friends read as authentic and loving, even, and perhaps especially, in the moments when they are not perfect. This all lays the foundation for the community organizing that later becomes so necessary in effecting the change that Yasmin seeks to make. Swaney’s playful, childlike illustrations advance the action and help to bring Yasmin’s Indian city to life.

Yasmin’s campaign should help inspire young readers to believe in their own potential to make a difference and teach the valuable lesson that sometimes it takes several small actions to make big moves. (Fiction. 8-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-55498-808-2

Page Count: 152

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
LOOK! LOOK!
by Uma Krishnaswami ; illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy

- BOOK REVIEW
TWO AT THE TOP
by Uma Krishnaswami ; illustrated by Christopher Corr

- BOOK REVIEW
THREADS OF PEACE
by Uma Krishnaswami

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INDIAN SHOES

by Cynthia Leitich Smith & illustrated by Jim Madsen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2002

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A very pleasing first-chapter book from its funny and tender opening salvo to its heartwarming closer. Ray and his Grampa Halfmoon live in Chicago, but Grampa comes from Oklahoma. Six vignettes make up the short chapters. Among them: Ray finds a way to buy Grampa the pair of moccasins that remind him of home and Smith gets in a gentle jab at the commercialization of Native American artifacts. At a Christmas stuck far away from the Oklahoma relatives the pair finds comfort and joy even when the electricity goes out, and in a funny sequence of disasters, a haircut gone seriously awry enables a purple-and-orange dye job to be just the ticket for little-league spirit. The language is spare, clean, and rhythmic, with a little sentimentality to soften the edges. Ray and Grampa have a warm and loving intergenerational bond that’s an added treat. With a nod toward contemporary Native Americans, Grampa tells Cherokee and Seminole family stories, and when Ray gets to be in a wedding party, the groom is Polish-Menominee and his bride is Choctaw. An excellent choice for younger readers from the author of the bittersweet Rain Is Not My Indian Name (2001). (Fiction. 7-10)