by Yangsook Choi & illustrated by Yangsook Choi ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 8, 1999
This may be the first appearance in a US picture book of tofu in a starring role, in a charming solo outing from the illustrator of Milly Lee’s Nim and the War Effort (1997). Mr. Kim assigns New Cat the job of patrolling his tofu factory, searching for mice. The problem is that New Cat isn’t allowed to go into the production room, which makes it the perfect escape route for a shrewd mouse that has taken up residence in the factory. One night, New Cat’s feline instinct gets the best of her, and she slips out of the office to track down the mouse. She discovers that the rodent has been chewing the electrical wires, which this night, let off enough sparks to start a fire. By accidentally tipping over a barrel of tofu, New Cat squelches the flames, the mouse takes off in a huff, and Mr. Kim has to rescue his pet from a drenching in soybeans. Choi’s tale is unique and refreshing in its setting and subject; in the pictures, she mixes soft colored surfaces with hard black lines and abrupt angles to vivid effect. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: March 8, 1999
ISBN: 0-374-35512-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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by Tony Johnston ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2000
From Johnston (An Old Shell, 1999, etc.), poetic phrases that follow a ghostly barn owl through days and nights, suns and moons. Barn owls have been nesting and roosting, hunting and hatching in the barn and its surroundings for as long as the barn has housed spiders, as long as the wheat fields have housed mice, “a hundred years at least.” The repetition of alliterative words and the hushed hues of the watercolors evoke the soundless, timeless realm of the night owl through a series of spectral scenes. Short, staccato strings of verbs describe the age-old actions and cycles of barn owls, who forever “grow up/and sleep/and wake/and blink/and hunt for mice.” Honey-colored, diffused light glows in contrast to the star-filled night scenes of barn owls blinking awake. A glimpse into the hidden campestral world of the elusive barn owl. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-981-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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by Margery Facklam ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1999
The gastronomical oddity of eating winged and many-legged creatures is fleetingly examined in a superficial text that looks at animals and people who eat insects. Bugs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner are gobbled up by a shrew, an aardvark, a bear, a gecko, and others. The rhyme scheme limits the information presented; specificity about the types of insects eaten is sacrificed for the sake of making the rhyme flow, e.g., a mouse, a trout, a praying mantis, a nuthatch, and a bat are repeatedly said to eat “bugs” or “insects” in general, rather than naming the mayflies, moths, or grubs they enjoy. An author’s note explains her choice of the word bugs for all crawly things; an addendum takes care of other particulars lacking in the text. Long’s exacting pen-and-ink style lends a naturalistic perfection to this visual playground of the insect world, enhancing this glimpse of vital link in the food chain. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-88106-271-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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