A poorly conceived art box that’s more likely to stifle any creative impulse than nurture it.
A brief history of modern sculpture, packaged with sturdy cardboard sheets of die-cut pieces that can be assembled into abstract…assemblages.
Alas, with this well-meaning work, Carter and Diaz prove that they should stick to the paper engineering for which they are both justly renowned. They start with a patchwork survey of Old World and African sculpture from prehistory to the turn of the 20th century and then introduce 10 “modern” sculptors (all of whom have been dead 25 years or more) in biographical sketches. The text throughout is weighted down with name-check references to other dead artists and art movements of the past along with mentions of important works that are not among the ones illustrated. The punch-out pieces in the accompanying box can be assembled into six sophisticated original abstracts without scissors or glue, but they have no evident stylistic connections to the work of the 10 profiled artists. Though the models come with explicit instructions for preferred assembly, the authors do include a few unlabeled pieces that can be slotted in where desired. But a dismissive cover claim that the models are similar to the preliminary “maquettes” that practicing sculptors sometimes make isn’t likely to provide young experimenters with much in the way of motivation.
A poorly conceived art box that’s more likely to stifle any creative impulse than nurture it. (bibliography) (Informational novelty. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1307-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Year-round fun.
Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”
This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”
Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this series debut, Maggie Sinclair tracks down a dognapper and solves a mystery about the noises in the walls of her Brooklyn brownstone apartment building. The 12-year-old heroine, who shares a middle name—Brooklyn—with her twin brother, Finn, is juggling two dogwalking jobs she’s keeping secret from her parents, and somehow she attracts the ire of the dogs’ former walker. Maggie tells her story in the first person—she’s self-possessed and likable, even when her clueless brother invites her ex–best friend, now something of an enemy, to their shared 12th birthday party. Maggie’s attention to details helps her to figure out why dogs seem to be disappearing and why there seem to be mice in the walls of her building, though astute readers will pick up on the solution to at least one mystery before Maggie solves it. There’s a brief nod to Nancy Drew, but the real tensions in this contemporary preteen story are more about friendship and boy crushes than skullduggery. Still, the setting is appealing, and Maggie is a smart and competent heroine whose personal life is just as interesting as—if not more than—her detective work. (Mystery. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 967-1-59990-525-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
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