Meted colors and sharp black outlines characterize Molinari’s full-page illustrations for this brief biography of the noted Chilean author. The text, rendered in Spanish and English, focuses on the warm togetherness of Isabel’s extended family and her love for reading and telling stories. The key reference to her writing is the link between the séances that her grandmother conducted, when Isabel was just a girl, and La casa de los espíritus (The House of the Spirits), conceived, according to Benatar, as a sort of farewell letter to Isabel’s dying grandfather. The Chilean political instability that led to Allende’s flight from the country is mentioned, but the thrust of the narrative is family and imagination. Now that Allende has begun writing for adolescents as well as adults, her name will be more familiar to young readers than it would have been just a few years ago, and biographies of role models for girls are always in short supply. Appropriate for all elementary school collections, but especially in areas with Latino populations. (Picture book/biography. 6-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-55885-379-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2004
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
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