An opportunistic, retrograde novelty.
Muldrow continues to mine the Golden Books archive, this time with a Christmas focus (Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Little Golden Book, 2013).
“Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year and all, but… // there’s just so much to do. / All that baking, // the endless cycle of cooking and cleaning, // and the rounds of social obligations… / when you could be taking a nap. Can we just call the Christmas season what it really is? // Cold and flu season!” Having clearly defined her audience as an adult one, Muldrow goes on to enumerate everything else there is not to like about Christmas, before rallying herself to deliver a pep talk. Strewing her text with exclamation marks galore, she celebrates “The writing, the mailing! / The jolly wassailing!” before taking a turn to earnest sentimentality to touch upon the Nativity and hopes for peace. As in the first of these repurposed compilations, the illustrations outshine the text, with glorious images, mostly lithographs, from such lights as Garth Williams, Richard Scarry, Leonard Weisgard and Mary Blair. Unfortunately, accomplished as the illustrations are, the overall effect is hopelessly white-bread; just two of the 96 pages include images of children of color. Although there are many animals, the relentless parade of idealized white face after idealized white face is downright depressing and, in this year of #weneeddiversebooks, calls the entire enterprise into question.
An opportunistic, retrograde novelty. (Picture book. Adult)Pub Date: Dec. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-553-49735-9
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Golden Books/Random
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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