The reason Myrna never sleeps is that she's busy dreaming up amazing adventures. Myrna, Firefighter Supreme, battles a forest inferno but kindly stops to give a raccoon a drink from her special fire-fighting hose. Trailing catnappers to a hangout for ``horse heisters, swine swipers . . . and bird abductors,'' Myrna the Peerless Private Eye takes each rescued pet home in her custom-made detecting van. After two more mini-adventures, Myrna and her brother (saved from the stormy sea in Myrna's Amazing Boatcar) are asleep when their mother comes to wake them in the morning. In her first book, Peterson has created an appealing, tongue- in-cheek action heroine who does good for others. O'Brien's characteristically comic b&w illustrations chronicle one very busy night. For readers, the only thing missing may be knowing Myrna when she's not operating in Walter Mitty-mode. Each episode repeats the same formula, and without offering a sense of Myrna as herself, the fantasy wears a bit thin. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-689-31893-6
Page Count: 51
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
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