In Steig's inimitable style—imaginative whimsy with a strong dose of mellow common sense—here's an antihero for the young: green-headed Shrek, described as rather uglier than he's pictured, begins his quest for a still-uglier princess by "slogging along the road, giving off his awful fumes" after his parents have "hissed things over" and "kicked him goodbye." Not since Briggs's Fungus the Bogeyman (1979) has there been such an original—and comical—reexamination of the reverse world of monsterdom.
Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1990
ISBN: 0-374-36877-5
Page Count: -
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1990
This companion piece to the other fairy tales Marcia Brown has interpreted (see Puss In Boots, 1952, p. 548 and others) has the smoothness of a good translation and a unique charm to her feathery light pictures. The pictures have been done in sunset colors and the spreads on each page as they illustrate the story have the cumulative effect of soft cloud banks. Gentle.
Pub Date: June 15, 1954
ISBN: 0684126761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1954
Amen.
Onto the page bounds the colossus John Henry, man of legend, man of myth (though the preface keeps things off balance on that point).
John was the archetype for the "Just Do It" generation; he was all bustle and business, surrounded by an aura of triumph. Lester hits upon all of John's special moments: his stupendous growth spurt; his humbling of Ferret-Faced Freddy; his smashing the great stone so fast that he creates a natty rainbow around his shoulders; and, of course, the climactic duel with the steam drill deep in the hills of West Virginia. John smoked the drill, but his big heart burst in the process. Lester (The Last Tales of Uncle Remus, p. 70, etc.; The Man Who Knew Too Much, see below) wisely makes it clear that you don't have to be John Henry to get things done: You just need the will; there's a bit of John to be tapped in us all. Pinkney's watercolors walk a smart and lovely line between ephemerality and sheer natural energy. The rainbow whispers the lesson here: "Dying ain't important. Everybody does that. What matters is how well you do your living."
Amen. (Folklore/Picture book. All ages)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8037-1606-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
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