Thirteen of the seventeen haiku originally published as a bilingual picture book, Birds, Frogs, and Moonlight, in 1967 (a fact mentioned nowhere in this book); newly illustrated by the extraordinarily inventive Bang (two Caldecott honors, including Ten, Nine, Eight, 1983). The translations of Cassedy, the late poet and novelist (M. E. and Morton, 1987), are lovely examples of this spare form, but Bang's illustrations steal the show. The book opens sideways to form tall double spreads, photos of recognizable objects combined in collages that are: intriguing for their innovative use of materials (a sweet-potato flying fish with potato-chip wings poised over waves of blue corn-chips); have a direct appeal to children (the title's dragonfly perches on a cookie person surrounded by delectable-looking homemade sugar-cookie leaves in true leaf—not cookie cutter—shapes, delicately browned as if they have only recently fallen); are remarkably evocative of the images in the poetry (a praying mantis whose legs are formed from bits of saw and whose head is a windup key); and are outstanding as pure design. There's even a note identifying the materials (yes, the water striders really are chocolate-covered almonds). A book of multiple uses and delights. The trade edition is probably the best bet; a tight centerfold would interrupt the flow of the beautifully crafted art (reviewed before binding). (Poetry/Picture book. 4+)
Pub Date: March 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-06-022624-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1992
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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BOOK REVIEW
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Like the quiet lap of waves on the sand, the alternating introspections of two Bahamian island children in 1492. Morning Girl and her brother Star Boy are very different: she loves the hush of pre-dawn while he revels in night skies, noise, wind. In many ways they are antagonists, each too young and subjective to understand the other's perspective—in contrast to their mother's appreciation for her brother. In the course of these taut chapters concerning such pivotal events as their mother's losing a child, the arrival of a hurricane, or Star Boy's earning the right to his adult name, they grow closer. In the last, Morning Girl greets— with cordial innocence—a boat full of visitors, unaware that her beautifully balanced and textured life is about to be catalogued as ``very poor in everything,'' her island conquered by Europeans. This paradise is so intensely and believably imagined that the epilogue, quoted from Columbus's diary, sickens with its ominous significance. Subtly, Dorris draws parallels between the timeless chafings of sibs set on changing each other's temperaments and the intrusions of states questing new territory. Saddening, compelling—a novel to be cherished for its compassion and humanity. (Fiction. 8+)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 1992
ISBN: 1-56282-284-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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With a little help from his audience, a young storyteller gets over a solid case of writer’s block in this engaging debut.
Despite the (sometimes creatively spelled) examples produced by all his classmates and the teacher’s assertion that “Stories are everywhere!” Ralph can’t get past putting his name at the top of his paper. One day, lying under the desk in despair, he remembers finding an inchworm in the park. That’s all he has, though, until his classmates’ questions—“Did it feel squishy?” “Did your mom let you keep it?” “Did you name it?”—open the floodgates for a rousing yarn featuring an interloping toddler, a broad comic turn and a dramatic rescue. Hanlon illustrates the episode with childlike scenes done in transparent colors, featuring friendly-looking children with big smiles and widely spaced button eyes. The narrative text is printed in standard type, but the children’s dialogue is rendered in hand-lettered printing within speech balloons. The episode is enhanced with a page of elementary writing tips and the tantalizing titles of his many subsequent stories (“When I Ate Too Much Spaghetti,” “The Scariest Hamster,” “When the Librarian Yelled Really Loud at Me,” etc.) on the back endpapers.
An engaging mix of gentle behavior modeling and inventive story ideas that may well provide just the push needed to get some budding young writers off and running. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0761461807
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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