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A FABULOUS CREATURE

The delightful uncertainties and personalities of Snyder at her best are missing from this slightly older story, which could be said to deal with the temptations of the flesh. The central character is almost-16-year-old James Fielding, who is spending a summer with his mother and professor father in a "wilderness" cabin near a ridiculous (and ridiculously expensive) summer community that is modeled after an Army base and called "The Camp." Exploring about, James discovers a majestic stag in a hidden valley; but he is soon distracted from his daily contemplation of the animal by another fabulous creature: sexy, bikini-clad Diane Jarrett—a Camp resident whose home is full of hunting trophies and who treats James, with a tantalizing alternation of inviting and evasive behavior, as another form of prey. James does share the deer with another, younger, Camp inmate, Griffin, a loner and nature-lover who reads widely, performs ritual ceremonies on the rocks, and clams up at the mention of her rich, runabout, gin-fizz-for-breakfast mother. Griffin swears to keep the deer a secret from the hunting Jarretts; but James, when Diane turns her attention to an older boy, half-helplessly offers her a look at the deer as a way to get her back. Of course, Diane wants that magnificent rack for a trophy—her father, seeing a photo, exults that it "would break every existing record"—and the Jarretts plan a return trip in hunting season. When the time comes, Griffin runs away from home; and James, reading about her disappearance, guesses her mission and joins her at the Camp for a confrontation with the Jarretts. The non-serious accident that ultimately saves the deer has been carefully prepared from the start, but when it comes it seems too neatly contrived. Snyder's picture of the dreadful rich and their crazy compound might be worth the reading, but otherwise the story lacks snap. Predictable Griffin is not one of Snyder's intriguing young-girl characters—partly no doubt because readers are directed to sympathize from the start. Diane, also transparent from the start, is a stereotypical explorative flirt without style or subtlety; and when the first three-fourths of the book seems dominated by her yes-and-no manipulation of James, she becomes plain boring.

Pub Date: March 16, 1981

ISBN: 0440401798

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 9, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1981

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I WISH YOU MORE

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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GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS

With the same delightfully irreverent spirit that he brought to his retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1987), Marshall enlivens another favorite. Although completely retold with his usual pungent wit and contemporary touches ("I don't mind if I do," says Goldilocks, as she tries out porridge, chair, and bed), Marshall retains the stories well-loved pattern, including Goldilocks escaping through the window (whereupon Baby Bear inquires, "Who was that little girl?"). The illustrations are fraught with delicious humor and detail: books that are stacked everywhere around the rather cluttered house, including some used in lieu of a missing leg for Papa Bear's chair; comically exaggerated beds—much too high at the head and the foot; and Baby Bear's wonderfully messy room, which certainly brings the story into the 20th century. Like its predecessor, perfect for several uses, from picture-book hour to beginning reading.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988

ISBN: 0140563660

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988

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