An experienced author of paperback fiction for older girls tries her hand at a realistic story for younger children, setting it in the 50's of her own childhood. Wendy Fletcher's pleasures and tribulations are similar to the ones in Cleary's books: though drawing is her forte, she's hesitant about tackling cursive; with Dad in a new job (it includes driving a truck in the neighborhood), her family is having ``a tight year,'' and Wendy's trying not to wear out her shoes. More novel to today's children, the Cold War has resulted in frequent air-raid drills at school; when the frightened Wendy asks why we should quarrel with the Russians, she's told only that they are ``different.'' In the end, she realizes that differences can be good—the imaginative ``Birdland'' that is her favorite subject in her own art is interesting because she draws each bird differently, all living happily together. This doesn't have the humor or the insights of Hurwitz or Janice Smith, and the period details don't quite add up to a late-50's flavor. Still, family and classroom interplay rings true, while the rather obvious moral has merit. For this level, illustrations would have been a plus. An acceptable additional choice. (Fiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1991
ISBN: 0-02-775665-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991
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
A charming, true story about the encounter between the boy who would become chancellor at the University of California at Riverside and a librarian in Iowa. Tom†s Rivera, child of migrant laborers, picks crops in Iowa in the summer and Texas in the winter, traveling from place to place in a worn old car. When he is not helping in the fields, Tom†s likes to hear Papa Grande's stories, which he knows by heart. Papa Grande sends him to the library downtown for new stories, but Tom†s finds the building intimidating. The librarian welcomes him, inviting him in for a cool drink of water and a book. Tom†s reads until the library closes, and leaves with books checked out on the librarian's own card. For the rest of the summer, he shares books and stories with his family, and teaches the librarian some Spanish. At the end of the season, there are big hugs and a gift exchange: sweet bread from Tom†s's mother and a shiny new book from the librarianto keep. Col¢n's dreamy illustrations capture the brief friendship and its life-altering effects in soft earth tones, using round sculptured shapes that often depict the boy right in the middle of whatever story realm he's entered. (Picture book. 7-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-679-80401-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1997
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