At the close of Justice and Her Brothers (1978), four youngsters sat, hands clasped, poised for their first venture as the psychically powerful First Unit, harbinger of a race to come. This is the story of their second trip, to a desolate future Dustland where the air is filled with dead creatures turned to dust. Justice, the most gifted of the four, goes with a sense of mission, though what the mission is she herself doesn't seem to know. Brother Thomas, expert illusionist and the Edmund of the group, resents her power and hates the visits to Dustland; and when Justice tames a dog-like creature who picks up their language and calls Justice Master, the other two—sickly brother Levy and neighbor Dorion, the Healer—wonder in passing if they too are her slaves. Besides the devoted "dog," Miacus, Justice communicates (less well) with one of a group of winged, three-legged humans (we must take Justice's word for it that they are human) whose Quest is for a way out of Dustland. In Dustland and on return, the four speculate on the mechanics of their situation: Can we be hurt in the future? If we're here without bodies, why the pain and blisters? Did our minds really go there, or was the trip inside our heads? But the ideas develop slowly, and not much else develops at all. (Desperate "t' beings" who try to snatch and detain the four during the Crossover home, and a shapeless Mal[evolence] that Swoops down on them on the road back home, don't grow beyond their obvious identity as overworked elements from the juvenile science fantasy tradition.) We leave Dustland still waiting for the trilogy to shape up as a story, and to reveal itself as the serious vision that seems to be promised.
Pub Date: April 21, 1980
ISBN: 0590362178
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1980
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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