by Susan L. Roth & illustrated by Susan L. Roth ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2001
When Little Boy James falls off the barn roof one Sunday morning and won’t wake up, Grandpa makes a rare trip up the hill to church—but he doesn’t pray the way his tagalong granddaughter expects him to. Roth (Happy Birthday Mr. Kang, p. 114, etc.) pairs her long but simply told miracle tale with huge, stunning collages made from tissue, handmade papers, fabrics, and leaves. Her small, crumpled figures float upon wide abstract backgrounds colored in hues chosen, she writes, to evoke dry, dusty, late summer days in America’s heartland. From the opening scenes caught through her “windows” as Little Boy James protests the confinement of church, the design shifts to reflect not only the setting, but also the moment in the story. The little sister standing alone in a narrow frame, the tiny brother on a vast swath of chenille, the tweedy doctor “flying” from his car across a sweep of blood-red earth, or the expanse of patchwork “fields” stretching between the house and the church aren’t simply pictures, they are a point of view. The congregation listens silently to long-winded Reverend Wilson, until Grandpa pulls out a penny whistle and blows a tune so sad and lonely that a choir of angels (garbed in transparent net) comes down through the stained-glass windows and fills the church. They follow him home, to sing around James’s bed until he opens his eyes. It’s a heart-filling (not to mention eye-filling) episode that will leave few readers unmoved—and the art is astonishing. (Picture book. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-84148-247-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
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by Avi & illustrated by Brian Floca ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1995
The book is a cute, but rather standard offering from Avi (Tom, Babette, and Simon, p. 776, etc.).
An adolescent mouse named Poppy is off on a romantic tryst with her rebel boyfriend when they are attacked by Mr. Ocax, the owl who rules over the area.
He kills the boyfriend, but Poppy escapes and Mr. Ocax vows to catch her. Mr. Ocax has convinced all the mice that he is their protector when, in fact, he preys on them mercilessly. When the mice ask his permission to move to a new house, he refuses, blaming Poppy for his decision. Poppy suspects that there is another reason Mr. Ocax doesn't want them to move and investigates to clear her name. With the help of a prickly old porcupine and her quick wits, Poppy defeats her nemesis and her own fears, saving her family in the bargain.
The book is a cute, but rather standard offering from Avi (Tom, Babette, and Simon, p. 776, etc.). (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09483-9
Page Count: 147
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1995
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by Avi ; illustrated by Brian Floca
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by Joseph Bruchac & illustrated by Dan Andreasen ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1997
A rare venture into contemporary fiction for Bruchac (The Circle of Thanks, p. 1529, etc.), this disappointing tale of a young Mohawk transplanted to Brooklyn, N.Y., is overstuffed with plotlines, lectures, and cultural information. Danny Bigtree gets jeers, or the cold shoulder, from his fourth-grade classmates, until his ironworker father sits him down to relate—at length- -the story of the great Mohawk peacemaker Aionwahta (Hiawatha), then comes to school to talk about the Iroquois Confederacy and its influence on our country's Founding Fathers. Later, Danny's refusal to tattle when Tyrone, the worst of his tormenters, accidentally hits him in the face with a basketball breaks the ice for good. Two sketchy subplots: Danny runs into an old Seminole friend, who, evidently due to parental neglect, has joined a gang; after dreaming of an eagle falling from a tree, Danny learns that his father has been injured in a construction- site accident. A worthy, well-written novella—but readers cannot be moved by a story that pulls them in so many different directions. (Fiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-8037-1918-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1996
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