A thinly disguised tract on literacy is made more palatable by some amusing bits in text and illustration. Little (His Banner Over Me, 1995, etc.) offers up an unusual protagonist, a young pig who lives on the tenth floor of a highrise with her educated and culture-loving parents. Gruntle gets a gift of rollerblades from her country grandfather, Streaky Bacon, and resolves to visit him to see how real pigs live. She also hopes to heal the breach between her mother and Grampa, who won't ``wear clothes or read books.'' Gruntle sneaks off to the farm and is shocked, shocked to discover naked farm animals, the real taste of slop, and the truth about manure. Grampa still mourns Grandma Trotter, a librarian forever with her snout in a book, and insists that ``real pigs don't read!'' Gruntle goes home to a bubble bath and her books, decides that Grampa's problem is he can't read, and is sure that if she teaches him, he'll mend his ways. Rosy watercolors of town and country are full of nice if anachronistic touches: old-fashioned automobiles and Walkmans; images of rotary phones and manual typewriters (while the text mentions computers). Eve Bunting's The Wednesday Surprise is a more engaging take on this theme. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-670-86340-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997
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
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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