A lesson about success delivered with humor and graceful irony.
An adaptation of Böll’s fable about not letting work overtake one’s life.
A visitor to a sleepy harbor town snaps photographs and awakens a fisherman dozing in his boat after landing a small catch earlier that day. The groggy fisherman “in shabby clothes” patiently entertains the tourist’s questions, telling him that he has already done his fishing for the day. The tourist can’t understand why the fisherman is content, and he embarks on a long list of speculations about the wealth and power the fisherman could attain if, instead of napping, he went back out to sea. The comic-book style, reminiscent of that in Hergé’s Tin Tin (which Bravo cites as inspiration in flap copy), uses panels to pace the story and add further humor—the fisherman’s repeated shakes of his head are particularly funny. It takes on a frenetic pace as the tourist imagines the fisherman working hard enough to get additional boats, a smokehouse, a factory, his own restaurant, “And then....” After a dramatic pause, everything comes full circle: “And then… / You could come relax here in the harbor, take a nap in the sunshine, or just enjoy the magnificent view.” This, of course, is just what the wise fisherman was doing before the tourist awakened him. Both men appear white, the former with light skin and hair, the latter with a ruddy complexion and dark hair and a beard.
A lesson about success delivered with humor and graceful irony. (Picture book. 5-10, adult)Pub Date: April 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5503-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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