Aaji, Rajiv's grandmother, fondly recalls having a piece of salmon ``for witness'' on Good Friday. Times in Trinidad are harder now, and Aaji has no hope of tasting salmon again. Rajiv sets out to find at least a tin of salmon as a special gift for her, because it is also her birthday. He asks everyone he can think of to allow him to work in exchange for salmon, but no one can help. He finally goes to the home of his teacher and trades an afternoon of weeding for his prize. Rahaman (O Christmas Tree, 1996, etc.) makes central to Rajiv's tale a simplicity of existence, respect for elders, and the notion that hard work has its rewards, in striking contrast to the life most US readers know. Unfortunately, the longwinded narrative is often overwhelmed with detailed descriptions of foods and customs that turn the tale into a social studies lesson, and an uplifting ending can't entirely redeem the rambling plot. The quietly understated pastel illustrations match the tone of the story, employing savory melons, pinks, and golds as warm backgrounds, rather than panoramic scenes of Trinidad. Using a tight focus of faces, the illustrator highlights Rajiv, a compelling character lost within his own story. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-525-67521-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1997
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tall-tale introduction to the ``King of the Keelboatmen,'' from the time he ran away from home at the age of two days to his literally explosive confrontation with steamboat captain Hilton B. Blathersby. The historical Fink was a cruel man who came to a violent end, but Kellogg depicts him as a friendly-looking, fun-loving youth; indeed, nearly all of the keelboatmen here- -black, white, old, and young—are smiling, clean-cut types, rather at odds with their usual roughneck image. Though Fink spends much of his time wrestling men or bears, Kellogg's description of him seems bland in comparison to his glowing, energetic illustrations, and less heroic than his other legendary figures. (Picture book/Folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 21, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-07003-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
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