Extraordinary women who had incredible adventures often are the subjects for Brown’s (Across a Dark and Wild Sea, p. 101, etc.) biographies and he has found another to celebrate. Alexandra David grew up in 19th-century Paris and had a career as a singer, but she was utterly consumed with wanderlust for Asia and the study of Buddhism. In her 40s, she left her husband, Philip Neel, for a journey; it would be 14 years before she returned. She went to Tibet, studying Tibetan as a hermit for a year, then received permission to study at the monastery in Kum Bum. There, a boy named Yongden became her servant, and later her companion and adopted son. She and Yongden traveled to Lhasa disguised as beggars on a pilgrimage—she darkens her face and hair for the journey—and they conquered snow-filled mountain passes, frozen rivers, and even rode a leather-rope cable over a deep gorge. She was the first Western woman to see Lhasa. An Author’s Note and bibliography offer more information, including that David-Neel died at 101 in 1969, just after having renewed her passport. Even now, children mostly seem to hear about wild adventure as the purview of men and boys: to have Don Brown’s series is a bracing antidote to that misconception. Brown’s signature watercolors are impressionistic, almost calligraphic: a yak looms in the foreground; Alexandra and Yongden are tiny figures in a vast snowy expanse on the “roof of the world”; a colorful tapestry of tiny paper prayer flags surround the trunk of an ancient tree. Alexandra’s words seem to all be taken from her own accounts of her travels. Heady, powerful stuff. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-08364-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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