Indian folk art triumphantly meets 17th-century English trick verse in this sophisticated graphic venture fit for middle...
Creative worlds collude and collide in this contemporary rendering of a well-known 17th-century English poem.
Seldom does a book review address a book’s design, but in this visual stunner from publisher Tara, the literal setting of the words is as key to the volume’s success as are its text and illustrations. Urveti, an acclaimed artist from Madhya Pradesh in central India, chooses for his subject an oft-anthologized anonymous circa-1665 “trick” poem, depicting the wily text with ravishingly detailed black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings in a style typical of Gond tribal art. The other third of this global collaboration is Brazilian designer Yamakami’s exquisitely thoughtful setting of the 12-line poem, which highlights the reflexivity of the six couplets. The meanings of these couplets can be gleaned reading each line with the rhyme from beginning to end, or—the tricky part—against it, from the middle of one line to the middle of the next. Take, for example, the poem’s opening: “I saw a peacock with a fiery tail / I saw a blazing comet drop down hail / I saw a cloud….” Through the use of intricate die cuts, Yamakami subtly leads readers from a spread featuring a plumped-up peacock to the image of a comet with its “fiery tail” of metaphorical “hail,” then to a cloud dropping the more literal icy phenomenon. These careful cuts draw readers through the work from cover to cover, brilliantly underscoring both the poem’s dizzying, dreamlike essence and its thematic obsession with the subjective nature of seeing.
Indian folk art triumphantly meets 17th-century English trick verse in this sophisticated graphic venture fit for middle graders on up. (Picture book/poetry. 10 & up)Pub Date: May 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-93-80340-14-2
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Tara Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
Once there was a poor child who had no father or mother—they, like everyone in the world, had died. In search of heaven, the lonely boy traverses the cosmos, but all that symbolizes hope and possibility is found worthless and what seemed bright and beautiful reeks of despair. The Earth is an empty vessel, and the moon, sun and stars become metaphors for the desolation and disease of the universe. Based on a story found in Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck, Amann’s bleak adaptation offers a conversation piece for sophisticated readers. Bhend’s lyrical artwork, done in colored pencil and mixed media, with its soft colors and texture, is a welcome contrast to the blackness of space and story. While her style seems simple, her cerebral images aptly represent the child’s complex, metaphysical journey and are appropriately ripe with symbols. It is she who leaves readers with the idea that peace and comfort may be possible; the barren, dark realm evoked by the words demands this mercy. This may be a good companion for those studying Büchner, but it's sure not for the usual picture-book audience. (Picture book. 12 & up)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7358-2316-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Compulsively readable commercial-grade series fiction that provides solid thrills but is unsatisfying as a stand-alone.
Three teenagers in an isolated community have 100 days to figure out how to save the world.
There are two kinds of series for children and teens: those in which each book is a complete story with a beginning, middle and end and those that tell a segment of a tale before simply stopping in the middle. The Phoenix Files falls into the second camp, so Morphew’s series opener feels less like a novel and more like the setup for one. Set in Australia, this fast-paced page-turner with a tried-but-true premise begins when Luke and his high-powered, workaholic mother move to Phoenix, a picture-perfect corporate town that turns out to be seriously sinister underneath. It’s completely cut off from the rest of the world, and worse, as the protagonists later discover, they can’t get out. After Luke and Jordan receive mysterious messages via USB memory stick, they team up with computer-whiz classmate Peter and learn that all the world, excluding Phoenix, is scheduled to end in 100 days. As the clock ticks down—the chapter headings cleverly tell readers the number of days left—the so far largely monochromatic heroes must figure out what is going on, who is responsible and how to stop it.
Compulsively readable commercial-grade series fiction that provides solid thrills but is unsatisfying as a stand-alone. (Thriller. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-61067-091-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
