A light parable of peace, well suited to a time of widespread hatemongering.
Photographer/naturalist Skye paints an unabashedly endearing picture of a friendship between a young moose and an old horse.
The basic outline is a true story: a wild yearling moose that the citizenry of Groton, Vt. named Mary, and a 20-year-old Welch Cob mare (named Little Bit), enjoyed each others’ company enough to share pasture and barn space. Mary, who had been orphaned, trundled into the Northeast Kingdom town one day and evidently found it amenable–she snacked on herbaceous delicacies and the church lawn before joining with Little Bit when the stream that Mary enjoyed led past Bit’s grazing ground. Upon this foundation Skye embellishes a tale of improbable friendship, of the surprising turn that animal instinct can take (and what it has to teach us), amidst the abiding beauty of the Green Mountain State’s northern reaches. Older readers will understand Skye’s exploration of loneliness and loss, and kids will best appreciate the sections imbued with a fairy tale quality: “The chickadees sang and the pine squirrels chattered and played, and Mary ate leaves and twigs from the bushes along the riverbank.” The story, accompanied by wildlife photographs, is simplistic, sentimental and infused with spiritual overtones. Skye reveals an intimate portrait of the two creatures comfortably hanging out together, surrounded by Vermont’s natural beauty.
A light parable of peace, well suited to a time of widespread hatemongering.Pub Date: June 13, 2005
ISBN: 1-4208-4534-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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