by Rosemary Sutcliff ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 10, 1977
Remarkably wide-ranging yet tightly cast, Sutcliff's cross-cultural chronicle takes her orphaned hero Justyn Englishman from a Celtic outpost to Saxon Britain, on to Viking slavery in Dublin, and then, freed, home to Norseland with his former master Thormod—and with him across the Baltic and down river to Constantinople, drafted en route to fight for Byzantine Basil II. The blood feud of the title is thrust upon Thormod on his return home from Dublin, making him the sworn enemy of his former best friends—two brothers whose father's accidental death began the feud and whom Thormod, to avenge his father's death, now pursues to Constantinople. Justyn becomes blood brother with Thormod and takes up his feud as well, but it is not until Thormod is killed much later that he feels it as his own—and not until the end, when Justyn is peacefully learning medicine in Constantinople, that he consciously passes up his chance for vengeance. It is the feud that impels the action and charts the voyage, but the action is never separated from the historical/cultural context. What impresses once more is the way Sutcliff integrates individual contingencies and choices with the larger currents and Clashes, and contains it all in each sharply differentiated, immediately visualized scene.
Pub Date: June 10, 1977
ISBN: 0525267301
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1977
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by Amy Krouse Rosenthal ; illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2015
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Christy Webster ; illustrated by Brigette Barrager & Chiara Fiorentino
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by Amy Krouse Rosenthal ; illustrated by Mike Yamada
illustrated by James Marshall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1988
With the same delightfully irreverent spirit that he brought to his retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1987), Marshall enlivens another favorite. Although completely retold with his usual pungent wit and contemporary touches ("I don't mind if I do," says Goldilocks, as she tries out porridge, chair, and bed), Marshall retains the stories well-loved pattern, including Goldilocks escaping through the window (whereupon Baby Bear inquires, "Who was that little girl?"). The illustrations are fraught with delicious humor and detail: books that are stacked everywhere around the rather cluttered house, including some used in lieu of a missing leg for Papa Bear's chair; comically exaggerated beds—much too high at the head and the foot; and Baby Bear's wonderfully messy room, which certainly brings the story into the 20th century. Like its predecessor, perfect for several uses, from picture-book hour to beginning reading.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988
ISBN: 0140563660
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988
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