These tasty tales have Aesopean flavor with Southern spiciness. While each of this wonderful storyteller’s eight stories indicates its specific origins, many edify while some are simply entertaining. In “The Golly Whumper,” while the tongue is having fun with cadence, Aunt Molly is depending on her friends the animals to help her escape the witchy Golly Whumper (unripe gourd) that is chasing her about trying to whump her. The reader learns that one good turn deserves another. “Waiting for BooZoo,” however, is “Wait ’Til Martin Comes” in a new version of the spinetingler about a brave stranger who, hoping to earn $1,000, tries to spend the night in an old haunted house. All he has to do is face the monster cat and break its spell. The story builds in suspense and nobody can blame the stranger for finally losing his nerve. In the title story creatures big and small make a deal with a poisonous vine, which has inadvertently been infecting the people, in which they take on its poison, but also acquire markings that warn the humans of their venom. Reneaux’s last story ends with the quote, “Respect earth’s creatures, and you will repay their gift, and help to saved the animals just as they once save the people.” It is the late Reneaux’s gift that her wonderful way with words comes through on these pages, leaving us with the spirit of her voice. Ransome radiantly illuminates these tales with lush watercolors that paint touchably realistic animals with a dash of humanity in their expressive faces and bits of clothing. Every single page is a joy to read. (glossary, sources, bibliography of stories and recordings) (Folktales. 5-10)
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2001
ISBN: 0-688-16253-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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