A year in Spain in the 1930s provided Ruth Sawyer with many of the folk tales and legends— The Frog, Juan Cigarron, The Three Kings Ride-which have become favorites in and out of the library; here she provides the story behind the stories within a personal narrative of a rich year. Sympathy and respect for each acquaintance enabled her to make friends and make their lives her own, however briefly. In Galicia she borrowed a calico pig and hunted truffles among the oak trees; in Seville on New Year's Eve she swallowed the traditional twelve grapes by the twelfth stroke of the clock. Wherever she went, a certain canniness in receiving all stories as new, coupled with her own experience as a storyteller, enabled her to learn much, to evaluate and to exchange. (On one occasion she felt like "Tommy Tucker singing for his supper.") There are lessons here for the would-be-good traveler, as well as background for the storyteller. In the words of Antonio, the wise guide, this is "a gift between friends."
Pub Date: March 6, 1967
ISBN: 0670501107
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1967
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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