LET'S SCARE MOM

Name: LET'S SCARE MOM
Author: Rob Wood
ISBN: 978-1496129079

by Rob Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2014

An engrossing portrait of growing up in a much simpler time.

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In a work that the author describes as “blurry nonfiction,” Wood explores growing up in the 1950s.

In his prologue, Wood explores how things have changed since his boyhood: “The time-tarnished mirrors of my memory reflect America in the 1950s as a very different world that we live in today.” This book is an expanded version of his earlier release, The Five Greatest Spankings of All Time (2012). The author recounts going on misadventures with his younger brothers, Randy and Rich, and his dog Snorkie. These often led to “lickins” from their disciplinarian father, Robert Wood, aka “Bullethead.” Since these punishments make up the bulk of the book, Wood supplied background on the practice: “Events requiring a ‘lickin’ became so numerous and diverse that Bullethead decided to publish and post a formal set of rules that attempted to identify the nature, quantity and quality of past and potential infractions that would always result in the exercising of the ‘L’ word.” In this era before computers and video games, the brothers had to amuse themselves on their rural ranch. Their active imaginations often led to unintended consequences, such as the time they re-enacted the Western they had just seen at the local movie house and Randy lit the hayloft on fire with a flaming arrow. Wood, a longtime cowboy, has honed his storytelling skills around campfires, and that is evident here. His colorful voice enlivens every page. Take, for example, this description of his arrival at the state science fair: “Sporting my best ‘Sunday go to meeting duds,’ including my favorite string tie, just like the one Roy Rogers wore for special occasions, I climbed out of the shuttle van.” His ability to perfectly limn events from decades ago is uncanny.

An engrossing portrait of growing up in a much simpler time.

Pub Date: April 7, 2014

ISBN: 978-1496129079

Page Count: 356

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.