by Valerie Worth & illustrated by Steve Jenkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2007
Worth’s shrewd economy and sharp observations characterize 23 poems illustrated with Jenkins’s familiar paper collages. Poems like “Kangaroo” are accessible to young children: “The trouble is, / Once born, there’s / No going back—” save for kangaroo babies, “who can / . . . by / A simple somersault / Return headfirst / To the delectable / Pocket of the dark.” Others are disarmingly sophisticated. “Snake” plumbs its subject’s coloration and movement for images: “Mottled / Mosaic / Of pebbles / Tumbled / Smoothly along, / Their slender / Landslide / Filing / Down / The narrow / Channel / Grooved by / The guiding / Head. . . . ” Jenkins’s canny, occasionally self-referential exploitation of paper to portray animal characteristics emerges in whale’s watery batik, elephant’s wrinkled hide and jellyfish’s transparent tentacles. Small trim size (22 centimeters square) renders the gutter somewhat intrusive in a few spreads, and while the image of “Wasp” practically achieves a third dimension, “Snake” seems correspondingly flat. The subject of “Bear” is its eye, “Like a fierce / Furious / Bee,” but Jenkins depicts limpid orbs. Lacking supporting material about the animals, the poet (who died in 1994) or artist, this package doesn’t soar with the poems, but just to have anything available by Worth is worth noting. (Picture book/poetry. 5-12)
Pub Date: April 2, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-374-38057-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2007
Share your opinion of this book
More by Valerie Worth
BOOK REVIEW
by Valerie Worth ; illustrated by Steve Jenkins
BOOK REVIEW
by Valerie Worth & illustrated by Natalie Babbitt
BOOK REVIEW
by Valerie Worth & illustrated by Antonio Frasconi
by Julia Alvarez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
Share your opinion of this book
More by Julia Alvarez
BOOK REVIEW
by Julia Alvarez ; illustrated by Raúl Colón
BOOK REVIEW
by Julia Alvarez ; illustrated by Sabra Field
BOOK REVIEW
by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Brian Selznick ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1996
With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating...
Nicholas is a bright boy who likes to make trouble at school, creatively.
When he decides to torment his fifth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Granger (who is just as smart as he is), by getting everyone in the class to replace the word "pen'' with "frindle,'' he unleashes a series of events that rapidly spins out of control. If there's any justice in the world, Clements (Temple Cat, 1995, etc.) may have something of a classic on his hands. By turns amusing and adroit, this first novel is also utterly satisfying. The chess-like sparring between the gifted Nicholas and his crafty teacher is enthralling, while Mrs. Granger is that rarest of the breed: a teacher the children fear and complain about for the school year, and love and respect forever after.
With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating tale—one to press upon children, and one they'll be passing among themselves. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-689-80669-8
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1996
Share your opinion of this book
More by Andrew Clements
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Andrew Clements & illustrated by Mark Elliott
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.