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THE LONG, LONG LETTER

Name: THE LONG, LONG LETTER
Author: Elizabeth Spurr
ISBN: 0-7868-0127-1

by Elizabeth Spurr & illustrated by David Catrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 1996

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Aunt Hetta is lonely. She lives too far from town for friends, and her kith and kin haven't written. By her mailbox she pines, then fires off a postcard to her sister. ``Have you quite forgotten me?'' suggests Hetta, ladling on the guilt. So the sister spends a year penning a long letter that requires a thousand stamps to post: ``She wrote of cabbages and crocuses, sausages and shoes. The newly born, the price of corn, the cranking phone she'd never use.'' As the massive missive is being trundled to its destination, a fierce wind blows the pages skyward. Now airmail, the letter falls to earth like snow, burying Hetta. The whole town turns out to rescue her from the storm of words and Hetta gains a gaggle of new friends. Spurr (The Gumdrop Tree, 1994, etc.) lets the sister's son narrate this paean to the lost art of letter writing in a rollicking, tongue-in-cheek style. Catrow teases the story for all its humor, at one point turning Hetta into a raptor as she keeps ``a hawk's watch'' on her letterbox. A jolly tall tale. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: April 8, 1996

ISBN: 0-7868-0127-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE RAIN
by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE SNOW
by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE WIND
by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant

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HANSEL AND GRETEL

by Stephen King ; illustrated by Maurice Sendak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2025

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.

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Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.

In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025

ISBN: 9780062644695

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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BECAUSE YOUR DADDY LOVES YOU

by Andrew Clements & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 23, 2005

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Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)