An eclectic collection of poems about war and peace; some by well-known poets and others by children, many of whom have had firsthand experiences of war. The book opens with the now-familiar words of Chief Joseph of the Nez PercÇ Tribe: ``Hear me, my warriors: my heart is sick and sad./From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever!'' War has stolen the childhood of 16-year-old Fionnuala Bogues of Belfast, Ireland: ``What about my wasted childhood,/Can you bring it back again?'' A Korean child recalls ``the friend I met while running from the war,'' who in memory has become dearer than any other. One of the most moving selections is by an unknown child from a concentration camp—``what I want to sing about,/That the world is full of loveliness.'' Selections by Langston Hughes (``And life for me ain't been no crystal stair'') and Lucille Clifton (`` `Walk tall in the world,' says Mama to Everett Anderson'') are connected to the main theme mostly by the ghostly, digitally manipulated photograph of a happy Asian mother and son next to a fortress-like wall. Throughout this poignant anthology, the emotional impact of the poetry is extended by newcomer Lill's art. (Picture book/poetry. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 17, 1997
ISBN: 0-399-22024-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
In his third beginning reader about Otto the robot, Milgrim (See Otto, 2002, etc.) introduces another new friend for Otto, a little mouse named Pip. The simple plot involves a large balloon that Otto kindly shares with Pip after the mouse has a rather funny pointing attack. (Pip seems to be in that I-point-and-I-want-it phase common with one-year-olds.) The big purple balloon is large enough to carry Pip up and away over the clouds, until Pip runs into Zee the bee. (“Oops, there goes Pip.”) Otto flies a plane up to rescue Pip (“Hurry, Otto, Hurry”), but they crash (and splash) in front of some hippos with another big balloon, and the story ends as it begins, with a droll “See Pip point.” Milgrim again succeeds in the difficult challenge of creating a real, funny story with just a few simple words. His illustrations utilize lots of motion and basic geometric shapes with heavy black outlines, all against pastel backgrounds with text set in an extra-large typeface. Emergent readers will like the humor in little Pip’s pointed requests, and more engaging adventures for Otto and Pip will be welcome additions to the limited selection of funny stories for children just beginning to read. (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85116-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up. Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields. Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-112322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
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