Wow! This cross-cultural cipher is a feast for the eyes and a challenge for the mind.
At first glance, this book looks indecipherable—but look closer!
This puzzle book opens with a mission and a clue: it invites readers to investigate pages of what looks like Chinese calligraphy, paired with lushly painted illustrations, to crack a secret code. Would-be codebreakers learn that the first 12 spreads are classic American folk songs (“Maybe you know them from campfire or school bus sing-alongs”), and the remaining five codes are English-language translations of classic Chinese folk songs. This mission may best be enjoyed intergenerationally with a participant who has some American cultural knowledge, as the songs will likely vary in familiarity for younger readers. Having cracked the code, readers of all ages will revel in the thrill of triumph, poring over each rich spread and going on to learn the lyrics of the songs they don’t already know, both American and Chinese. Indeed, the experience would be even more satisfying with music to accompany the text, so families may find themselves seeking it out. Stadtlander’s vibrantly textured scenes perfectly capture the nostalgia of the songs, and they smoothly transition from the West to the East. A guide to the code and an answer key complete the experience.
Wow! This cross-cultural cipher is a feast for the eyes and a challenge for the mind. (Picture book. 8-adult)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-451-47377-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
Cold indeed is the heart not made warm by this bubbly fairy-tale romance. Raised by a kindly forest troll, Christian knows little of the world beyond what he can see through his telescope, but gazing upon a nearby castle, he falls head over heels for Princess Marigold. What chance has he, though, as a (supposed) commoner? When at last he nerves himself to send her a message via carrier pigeon, she answers and the courtship is on—via “p-mail” at first, then, after he lands a job as a castle servant, face to face. Setting numerous fairy-tale conventions just a bit askew, Ferris (Of Sound Mind, 2001, etc.) surrounds her two smart, immensely likable teenagers, who are obviously made for each other, with rival suitors, hyperactive dogs, surprising allies, and strong adversaries. The most notable among the last is devious, domineering Queen Olympia, intent on forcing Marigold into marriage with a penniless, but noble, cipher. The author gets her commonsensical couple to “I Do” through brisk palace intrigue, life-threatening situations, riotous feasting, and general chaos; Queen Olympia gets suitable comeuppance, and the festivities are capped by the required revelation that Christian is actually heir to the throne of neighboring Zandelphia. Fans of Gail Carson Levine’s Princess Tales will be in familiar territory here, as well as seventh heaven. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-15-216791-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
It’s the first night of the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and Arab countries. Three-year-old Ibtisam, hunting frantically for a shoe, loses her family as they join the throng of anxious Palestinians fleeing Ramallah into Jordan. Desperate hours will elapse before the family is reunited. This beautifully written memoir of the author’s childhood on the Israeli-occupied West Bank unfolds against a harsh backdrop of war and cultural displacement. The family endures poverty, separations and frequent relocation. Yet life goes on, by turns surprising, funny, heartbreaking and rich with possibility. In an overcrowded Jordanian school-room housing refugees, Ibtisam discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arab alphabet, and a key unlocking the magical world of written words. Courageous and curious, but by no means always well-behaved, Ibtisam and her brothers find ways to assert their strong wills in defiance of the authorities that govern their lives. The injustices that rankle come at the hands of parents and teachers, not broader geopolitical realities. A compassionate, insightful family and cultural portrait. (map, historical note, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10+)
Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-374-35733-1
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Melanie Kroupa/Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
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