Emerald is given a school assignment to write an essay entitled “My New York,” but she feels New York isn’t hers, any more than the many other places she has lived with her actor parents. She has moved so often that she has created an aloof persona in order to avoid the heartache of making friends only to have to leave them. With the help of a never-give-up neighbor and classmate, Emerald forms emotional attachments to the people in her apartment building. She is even inspired by “Stucksville,” her tiny shoebox-sized apartment. Her New York becomes defined by the small-town closeness of her neighbors as they lead diverse, but interconnecting lives. She finds a true home and she wants to stay there. The need for home and belonging is a universal theme that Greenwald presents deftly and compassionately. The characters are engaging and the plot moves along gently, leading to a satisfying happy ending. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7894-2675-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In her brief text, Collard develops the theme that ``no animal exists just to scare, hurt, or disgust us''; still, her two dozen selections (bats, tarantulas, vultures, giant squid, piranhas, etc.) all get their kid appeal from their infamous reputations. The point of view puts an odd spin on some of her facts: ``Sharks don't cry, but they are sensitive'' and ``don't seem to like the taste of people very much''; ``Scorpions are not friendly, but they will not attack you either,'' etc. Some facts are also inconsistent with other sources: the Tasmanian devil is ``really just a small, shy animal'' that ``likes [nothing] better than...basking in the warm sun,'' whereas Kathy Darling (in Tasmanian Devil, 1992) describes the animal as nocturnal and states that ``All Tassie devils are naturally ill-tempered and aggressive.'' The last animal here is a ``Razor-Tooth Slime-Encrusted Bone-Muncher,'' complete with slobbering purple-and-green portrait; a book of similarly humorous imaginary monsters might be a more appropriate vehicle for this team. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: March 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-88106-491-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993
A king who is impressed with his own cleverness orders a robe of smoke. After Rabbit, Leopard, and several other animals fail to weave one, Tortoise plods up to announce that he can—but he'll need a thread of fire to finish it. The king, who actually is pretty sharp, saves face by answering that he doesn't really want the robe, and is satisfied by just knowing that there's someone clever enough to make it. Blankley decorates borders and endpapers with designs from Cameroon and paints groups of smiling people, in traditional dress, mingling amicably with wild creatures. Though text and illustrations differ in some details (Mollel describes the king's body as ``enormous,'' but in the pictures it merely looks a bit flabby), together they create an entertaining, benign (those who fail suffer only embarrassment) variation on the ``impossible task/impossible countertask'' motif common to many folk traditions. (Folklore/Picture book. 8-10)
Pub Date: March 22, 1993
ISBN: 0-395-64480-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993
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