Industrious Tsugele shocks her tradition-minded parents by announcing that she won't marry any man who isn't as reliable as her trusty besom. After rejecting two suitors, she strikes out on her own and finds a job in a nearby town. One morning her broom disappears; hunting for it, she meets an extremely thin, hard-working man with kind eyes and a stiff shock of golden hair. It's love at first sight. His name? Broom, of course. Tsugele accepts the miracle uncritically; readers may find the ending rather sudden, but will certainly pick up on Tsugele's happy independence. As usual, the simple gestures and comically exaggerated expressions Zimmer gives his figures closely reflect the story's turns while broadening the humor; woven woodcut borders around each scene, plus the characters' peasant dress, give this original tale a traditional air. (Picture book. 8-10)
Pub Date: March 30, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-020986-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
In 1826, searching for a suitable gift for the king of France, Egypt's pasha happily seizes on the suggestion of a stable boy, Abdul, that he send his giraffe. With Abdul as his affectionate keeper, the creature creates a national sensation as he makes his way from Marseilles to the king's chateau at Saint-Cloud: Towns rename streets, dressmakers and milliners create new fashions, poets write ``long, thin poems,'' and admiring crowds gather along the route. The awestruck king delights Abdul by inviting him to stay on as keeper of the whole Royal Menagerie. In rich colors, softened edges, and subdued light reminiscent of Uri Shulevitz's The Treasure (1979), Poulin's oil paintings- -ranging from half-pages to wordless full spreads—show an interpretation of this historic event that is suffused with tongue- in-cheek charm; the calm, dignified giraffe towers with an indulgent air over excited, gnomish human figures, and the artist suggests an appropriate imaginary monument in the final scene: a giraffe's head built atop the Eiffel Tower. Nancy Milton's The Giraffe That Walked To Paris (1992) commemorates the same incident; while she, too, employs invented dialogue, the Colliers's first collaboration is a somewhat longer, more elaborately illustrated account. (Picture book. 8-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-689-80679-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1996
``Little scientists'' who are not put off by the condescending title of this work, created in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History, will find a trivial, meandering alphabet of science terms. For each entry, readers are encouraged to ``break it up,'' with word origins given to help impart meaning. However, Albee is not always consistent in her explanations. In the introduction, archaeology is broken into archaeo, or ``ancient,'' and logy, which means the science or study of. Yet under the entry for archeology, the first part of the word is broken into arkhe, for ``beginning.'' The pronunciation for one is ar-kee-OL-uh-jee, and for the other, ahr-kee-AHL-uh-jee. The definitions of terms, as varied as archaeopteryx, botany, bioluminescence, latitude, and skeleton, are interspersed with brief biographies of scientists and other sidebars. Of limited use. (full-color photographs, glossary, index, not seen) (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: July 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-7611-0168-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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