Daly gives her version of the oft-retold “Stonecutter” a contemporary setting—dressing small figures in modern clothes and placing them as often as not against urban backdrops. Discontented with the small income he earns from carving huge and widely admired lions and other animals, Sivu wishes to be a rich merchant. Suddenly, he is just that…but his discontent only grows, and with successive wishes he becomes the Mayor, the Sun (looming with a smirk over a land that quickly becomes drought stricken), a rain cloud, the wind and finally a mass of stone. Being unrestrained and insensitive in all guises, though, he ends up being more hated than respected. Unlike Gerald McDermott (1975), Demi (1995), Jon J Muth (2009) and other retellers, the author lets readers draw their own conclusions by electing to end with Sivu feeling his rocky self being cut by another carver but not yet figuring out the implicit Lesson. His lack of self-understanding adds another thought-provoking element to a tale identified (by the author, at least—others have different ideas) as Taoist. (afterword) (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5369-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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