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MAGICAL CELTIC TALES

Name: MAGICAL CELTIC TALES
Author: Una Leavy
ISBN: 978-1-84717-546-5

by Una Leavy ; illustrated by Fergal O'Connor ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 10, 2017

A fresh alternative to dustier collections, well-tuned for reading aloud.

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Nine old tales retold, featuring courage and cleverness, giants and wee folk, rash actions and romance.

Gathered from, mostly, public-domain sources and fluently recast with occasional modern inflections (“Meanwhile, back at the court, King Gwrtheyrn was depressed”), the stories largely skip past explicit gore or violence to play up family and domestic values. Thus “Conor the Brave” takes on several (rather easily defeated) giants to keep his widowed mother in firewood; Hamish (euphemistically dubbed a “seal catcher”) takes up trade in sealskins to help his impoverished Scottish clan—and sincerely repents after discovering that selkies are real; and a Cornish couple is rewarded with a human child for looking lovingly after a changeling for 10 years. In a “Rumpelstiltskin” variant from the Isle of Man that puts at least a mild spin on convention, slacker housewife Blaanid mends her ways after her own procrastination forces her into a deal with a scary giant in order to get her hardworking husband a coat. In O’Connor’s brushy watercolors, red-haired or blond young white folk in ragged country clothing intrepidly face portly giants or pointy-eared fairies in rugged wind-swept landscapes. American tongues will wish in vain for a pronunciation guide to the Welsh and Gaelic names, but in her endnotes, Leavy does supply both context and sources for each story.

A fresh alternative to dustier collections, well-tuned for reading aloud. (Folk tales. 7-11)

Pub Date: May 10, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-84717-546-5

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Dufour

Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
IRISH FAIRY TALES AND LEGENDS
adapted by Una Leavy & illustrated by Susan Field

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THE TERRIBLE TWO

From the Terrible Two series , Vol. 1

by Mac Barnett ; Jory John ; illustrated by Kevin Cornell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 13, 2015

Fluffy, fast, fun reading for fans of Clueless McGee and the Wimpy Kid.

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Miles used to live near the sea. Miles had friends. Miles was his school's greatest prankster...how will he survive a move to Yawnee Valley?

Yawnee Valley is famous for one thing: cows. All new students at Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy receive a booklet of 1,346 interesting cow facts from fussbudget fifth-generation principal Barry Barkin. On the first day of school, when Principal Barkin's car is found mysteriously parked on the school's steps, Barkin suspects Miles and assigns Niles Sparks to be Miles' buddy. Miles can't think of anything more awful than spending every moment of every day with smiling, officious, king-of-the-obvious Niles. On top of that, Barkin's son, Josh, has decided Miles is a good bullying target. To make life interesting, Miles plans a perfect prank in his pranking notebook, but it’s foiled. That's followed by an invitation to join forces in pranking from an unexpected source...no way! Let the prank war commence! Barnett and John launch their cow-resplendent illustrated series with the humorous origin story of the pranking duo who lend the series its name. Characters may be stock; however, the pranks are anything but, and it's peppered with cow facts. Cornell’s goofy cartoon illustrations (especially the blasé cows) add giggles aplenty.

Fluffy, fast, fun reading for fans of Clueless McGee and the Wimpy Kid. (Fiction. 7-11)

Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4197-1491-7

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Amulet/Abrams

Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FIRST CAT IN SPACE AND THE SOUP OF DOOM
by Mac Barnett ; illustrated by Shawn Harris

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW DOES SANTA GO DOWN THE CHIMNEY?
by Mac Barnett ; illustrated by Jon Klassen

- BOOK REVIEW
TWENTY QUESTIONS
by Mac Barnett ; illustrated by Christian Robinson

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LIKE PICKLE JUICE ON A COOKIE

by Julie Sternberg and illustrated by Matthew Cordell ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2011

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When Bibi, her first and favorite babysitter, moves away, it takes all of August for 8-year-old Eleanor to get beyond her sense of loss and get used to a new caretaker. Her parents grieve, too; her mother even takes some time off work. But, as is inevitable in a two-income family, eventually a new sitter appears. Natalie is sensible and understanding. They find new activities to do together, including setting up a lemonade stand outside Eleanor’s Brooklyn apartment building, waiting for Val, the mail carrier, and taking pictures of flowers with Natalie’s camera. Gradually Eleanor adjusts, September comes, her new teacher writes a welcoming letter, her best friend returns from summer vacation and third grade starts smoothly. Best of all, Val brings a loving letter from Bibi in Florida. While the story is relatively lengthy, each chapter is a self-contained episode, written simply and presented in short lines, accessible to those still struggling with the printed word. Cordell’s gray-scale line drawings reflect the action and help break up the text on almost every page. This first novel is a promising debut. Eleanor’s concerns, not only about her babysitter, but also about playmates, friends and a new school year will be familiar to readers, who will look forward to hearing more about her life. (Fiction. 7-9)