The companion to the credibility-straining Nine for California (1996), this is a deeply satisfying story starring a resourceful heroine whose real-life counterpart is mentioned in a tiny historical footnote. Amanda and her family settle in a cabin while her father trudges off each week to prospect for gold. Even with a tumble of siblings, though, Amanda is bored until she figures out a way to do what she loves best: bake a pie. When Pa comes home and says he made 25 cents a slice from her gooseberry pie, Amanda begins to bake in earnest. But that's not all she does. She convinces a peddler to set up a trading post, encourages a prospector to open a laundry, and a cowboy to set up a livery stable. The town grows, enough for Pa to go into business with his daughter and for Amanda to think about schooling as well as pie. Smith's detailed watercolors are full of charm: Amanda's red ribbons match her gingham dress, a baby sister sleeps on a ferocious- looking bearskin rug in the cabin, and expressive, cartoony characters festoon the western landscape. It's fun to watch the town grow, spread by spread, and a map and a recipe for gooseberry pie grace the endpapers. Levitin and Smith provide a grand look at the hows and whys behind a town's growth; of course it didn't happen exactly this way—but it might have. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-531-30043-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
Using soft-focus pastel images (created for a 1990 video) and a shortened text, Coerr's poignant story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (1977) is recast in picture-book format. The author's abridgement omits transitional passages and details of Sadako's illness and rearranges events slightly, but the heart of her moving story is intact. Young's inexhaustible imagination creates images with dual meanings: the jacket closeup of Sadako's eyes is also a crane in flight and, in a series of small images on the first three pages, a mushroom cloud is transformed into a crane. A sensitive adaptation that makes a classic story accessible to a younger audience. (Biography/Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 1993
ISBN: 0-399-21771-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
The author of Appleblossom (p. 20), a Passover story set in Eastern Europe, re-creates a more somber chapter from the Jewish experience. Miriam, about five in Himler's tender illustrations, tells how her parents hid her when the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940. Opening with a brief but explicit summary of the danger (``Jews...were sent to concentration camps, where many died a hideous death''), Miriam's narration focuses on her parents' love and care for her, the sorrow of all three at their parting, and the kindness of the farm family that takes her in. They have a hidden cupboard that opens when a painted lily is pressed; there she is to hide at need. Miriam's grief is not easily assuaged, but a pet rabbit offers some solace; in a final, dramatic scene, she almost doesn't make it to the hiding place in time because she is determined to protect her new pet. Oppenheim concludes there, pointing out the heroism of the many host families like Miriam's but leaving open the question of whether she or her parents survived—a wise, honest decision that avoids either telling more than is appropriate for young children or contriving an unrealistically happy ending. The carefully honed text includes some exquisitely touching details: asked to choose just one of her three dolls to take with her, Miriam replies, ``No dolls...they have to stay together.'' Himler's lovely, understated watercolors beautifully evoke the setting and the warmth of the relationships. An exceptionally sensitive and effective portrayal of a difficult subject. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-06-024669-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1991
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