Stating that “democracy is a messy business and it’s our job to sort it out,” Goodman takes a simplified route through the electoral process in this country, with special reference to presidential elections. Her anecdotal history starts with ancient Athens, closes with ways that readers too young to vote (in national elections, at least) can become politically involved and in between covers styles of campaigning, vice presidents, assassinations, dirty tricks, the Electoral College, hanging chads and related topics. Smith’s cartoon illustrations crank up the presentation’s light tone with comical views of candidates and voters, along with free-association riffs on donkeys vs. elephants, Congress, campaign financing and more. All in all, the team that produced The Truth About Poop (2007) and Gee Whiz! All About Pee (2006) treat their timely and (more or less) new topic with the same engaging informality. Readers will come away a little more informed about how elections work, and perhaps motivated to make their own voices heard. (resource list, index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59990-285-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
A polished, poignant retelling of a familiar legend and its worthy moral, that some things in life are worth more than their weight in gold. Greed drives King Midas when a mysterious stranger decides to grant his wish for a golden touch; too late the king realizes that everything he touches—roses, bed sheets, food, coffee, his beloved daughter—turns to cold yellow metal. By the time the stranger reappears, Midas is more than ready to return his gift. Rayyan’s illustrations create a rich, busy background for the events; harpies, sphinxes, and satyrs scurry around, while careful observers will spot Icarus plunging toward the earth at the same moment that Midas transforms his daughter, Marygold. Such wonderful details bind the art and the text with perfect alacrity, ensuring that this book will not be long on the shelves. (Picture book/folkore. 5-9)
Pub Date: March 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1423-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
Another woman-turned-warrior tale, this time set in Ireland. Brave adventurer Margaret longs to “learn what lay beyond the wide sea,” and seizes her first opportunity when the handsome son of a king, Simon, stumbles onto her farm. She mightily convinces him to take her aboard, and is soon felling sea serpents. This prefaces the real monster she must slay—giant who rendered her true love lifeless with the stroke of a club—but she is imprisoned by a sorceress hag who tells her that only the “champion” whose finger fits a silver ring can free the sword that will kill the giant. Margaret slips the ring on, exclaiming, “What fools we are for thinking it must be a man who slays that great, dirty giant!” With giant slain and true love returned from the dead, a wedding ensues. This story has it all: high seas, sorcery, sea serpents, the slaying of dragons, with a Maureen O’Hara—like spitfire at the heart of it all. San Souci conjures up large events and sweeps of time with a minimum of words. Comport casts Margaret as a long-necked, pale-skinned beauty with waves of red hair as fiery as her spirit. (Picture book/folklore. 5-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-81072-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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