THE STORY OF A BOY NAMED WILL, WHO WENT SLEDDING DOWN THE HILL

Name: THE STORY OF A BOY NAMED WILL, WHO WENT SLEDDING DOWN THE HILL
Author: Daniil Kharms
ISBN: 1-55858-214-2

VLADIMIR RADUNSKY

by Daniil Kharms & illustrated by Daniil Kharms & translated by Jamey Gambrell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1993

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From a Russian (1905-41) who began to write for children when, in the 1930's, his avant-garde adult poetry couldn't be published (and who died a political prisoner): a deceptively simple cumulative tale about a boy whose sled runs, one by one, into a hunter, a dog, a fox, and a hare, carrying them all together until they smash into a bear. ``And since then,/I've heard it said,/Willie never/rides his sled.'' Radunsky (illustrator of Marshak's The Pup Grew Up!, 1989) profiles the action, close up in the picture plane, on a cloud of windblown snow. First seen as a thoughtful lad gazing skyward, Will encounters the stolid hunter head-on, landing beneath him; the headlong journey spins ever more out of control as it hurtles on a collision course toward the big red bear. The dynamic action will intrigue little children, but this fable will most interest those old enough to appreciate the subtext and the powerful art. (Picture book. 3+)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1993

ISBN: 1-55858-214-2

Page Count: 26

Publisher: NorthSouth

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1993

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FIRE HORSE
by Vladimir Mayakovsky & Osip Mandelstam & Daniil Kharms ; illustrated by Lidia Popova & Boris Ender & Vladimir Konashevich ; translated by Eugene Ostashevsky

- BOOK REVIEW
IT HAPPENED LIKE THIS
by Daniil Kharms & translated by Ian Frazier & illustrated by Katya Arnold

- BOOK REVIEW
FIRST, SECOND
by Daniil Kharms & illustrated by Marc Rosenthal & translated by Richard Pevear

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TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

by Josh Schneider & illustrated by Josh Schneider ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011

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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ULTRABOT'S FIRST PLAYDATE
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
KID AMAZING VS. THE BLOB
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYBODY SLEEPS (BUT NOT FRED)
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

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ABIYOYO RETURNS

by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

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The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)