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TO CAPTURE THE WIND

MacGill-Callahan (When Solomon Was King, 1995, etc.) explores the Celtic world in this story starring an ingenious Irish maiden, Oonagh, who answers a pirate king's riddles to win back her betrothed, an expert weaver named Conal. Expert agriculturalist Oonagh will wed Conal on May Day; he's happy, she's happy. Then the warriors of Malcolm, pirate king of the islands, kidnap Conal and every other person skilled with needle and loom. Oonagh, rushing to rescue Conal, comes across Ethne, a southern princess pining for the love of Malcolm's son, Aidan, whom she thinks she's lost because she failed to solve a series of riddles. Undeterred, Oonagh rows to the pirate's isle, issues her challenge, answers the riddles, and escapes with Aidan, Conal, and the pirates' kidnapped slaves by inventing sails—``a new word for a new idea.'' As the book swashbuckles to its not unforeseen ecstatic end, all loose ends are knotted up as neatly as expert-weaver Conal would have wished: There's a double wedding, and Malcolm is laughed out of countenance, becoming ``the proudest grandfather in all Ireland.'' In Manchess's first picture book, painterly oils answer the demands of this story, with fierce posturing on all sides. Oonagh's swagger and riddle-answering will appeal to young readers, even if the motives behind all the heroism isn't particularly germane to most in the picture-book set. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-8037-1541-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1997

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HOW TO MAKE AN APPLE PIE AND SEE THE WORLD

What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 2, 1994

ISBN: 0-679-83705-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994

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BECAUSE I HAD A TEACHER

A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.

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A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.

This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.

A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Compendium

Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017

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