Despite a little too much emphasis on its moral, a satisfying story of just rewards for just actions.
A girl who is beautiful within becomes beautiful without, but her mean stepsister cannot follow her path.
An Iranian-born author uses a “Toads and Diamonds” base for her original tale. Shiraz, Cinderella-like when her father dies after marrying a woman with a daughter, goes to find a red ball of yarn (left by her own mother) when it blows into a strange neighbor’s garden. She meets an old woman, who, curiously, asks Shiraz to further destroy the neglected house and garden, and then to cut her tangled hair short, but the compassionate girl disobeys and makes everything perfect. The old lady gives her the wool and directs her to bathe in two pools. When Shiraz returns, her stepfamily is amazed by her beauty. The stepmother insists that Monir visit the woman, but the stepsister cannot muster Shiraz’s goodness. She follows the instructions literally and destroys everything. After greedily immersing herself in the pools more times than directed, she comes home bedraggled and ugly. Mother and daughter demand to understand this very different result, and Shiraz reveals her secret. The gouache paintings with their bold color blocks and scribbly lines provide a picture of a timeless Tehran and a girl who is a whirlwind of energy.
Despite a little too much emphasis on its moral, a satisfying story of just rewards for just actions. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-84686-929-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
This compilation of paragraphs about one hundred of America’s most famous women ranges from the dawn of the nation to the current millennium, highlighting the women trailblazers who have altered its history forever. Including the likes of Pocahontas and Abigail Adams, as well as Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, and Julie Taymor, there are few who have not been included in individual as well as collective biographies. Spies, poets, abolitionists, suffragists, politicians, scientists, painters, dancers, nurses, and doctors are all pictured within the context of their period of history. Each double-paged spread (“Turn of the Century,” “The Great War,” “The Great Depression,” etc.) opens with a very brief overview and includes four to six women. By design, each of these figures is reduced to a few lines, highlighting not much more than a basic fact or two. “They admired the flowers, and bones, and bright, bleak New Mexican landscapes painted by Georgia O’Keefe (1887–1986).” Harness’s signature colors are attractive and her intent is certainly laudable, but it would be difficult to determine exactly the purpose of giving such short shrift to these important women. Useful, perhaps, as a starting point with an eye toward inspiration, a timeline, glossary, and lists of historic sites and women’s organizations, as well as a bibliography and recommended reading list will help. (Nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-17017-X
Page Count: 64
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
Illustrated with a Honduran painter’s ornately detailed, Maya-inflected figures, this bilingual telling of a tale passed down by the illustrator’s grandmother also presents an authentically Central American blend of folk mythology and social commentary. When humans that have been created severally from fragile clay, combustible wood and cold, silent gold prove unsatisfactory to the gods, the Good-Hearted God "did what only gods can do": cuts off his fingers, which grow into such lively and elusive people that the gods can’t catch them to put them through various tests. (The text is careful to add that the fingers grow back, "like lizards' tails.") The weary gods take a siesta, and when they awake to discover that the warm-hearted humans have brought the golden model to life, they decree that the finger people will evermore be forced to work for the model’s rich descendants—but the rich will never enter heaven unless both come together. Not a traditional tale, but it's told in an animated way and is strongly evocative of its root culture. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58980-889-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
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