A disappointing followup to the sensational Brown Angels (1993). Myers dips into a trove of old portraits again, this time offering a multiethnic, multicultural selection: children from Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas; dressed in robes, loincloths, bulky cloth coats, and swaddling clothes; in studios and outside; some alone, some in family groups; some smiling, others apprehensive—all enthralling. The trappings are less so: full-page sepia-toned (with occasional touches of hand coloring) photos across from interchangeable verses of a rapturous hymn ("Celebrate these rosy lips/that curl in patient smiles/So wide I am encircled,/lost . . ./sweetly enrapt in love") printed over very pale green antique wallpaper patterns. Readers are left to guess what country, or even what continent, the children were in, and Myers contributes neither personal responses to individual pictures nor real or imagined stories to give them context. "Let us celebrate the children," he writes, an adult addressing other adults in the body of the text as well as the introduction; for young people, a glimpse of past generations is their explicit gain, with the text and design mere distractions. A gilt lily. (Picture book. 4-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-024822-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1995
A book that will make young dog-owners smile in recognition and confirm dogless readers' worst suspicions about the mayhem caused by pets, even winsome ones. Sam, who bears passing resemblance to an affable golden retriever, is praised for fetching the family newspaper, and goes on to fetch every other newspaper on the block. In the next story, only the children love Sam's swimming; he is yelled at by lifeguards and fishermen alike when he splashes through every watering hole he can find. Finally, there is woe to the entire family when Sam is bored and lonely for one long night. Boland has an essential message, captured in both both story and illustrations of this Easy-to-Read: Kids and dogs belong together, especially when it's a fun-loving canine like Sam. An appealing tale. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-8037-1530-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
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