This history of the Mount Rushmore monument is laudatory to a fault, devoting a mere paragraph to the many people who considered (or still consider) the colossal sculpture a blot on the landscape, a man-made disfigurement of nature. Curlee (Into the Ice, 1998, etc.) emphasizes the sculpture’s patriotic aspects: Washington represents the founding of the nation, Jefferson its westward expansion, Lincoln its preservation, and Roosevelt—a controversial choice even at the time—conservation. The details on the physical process of construction, from pointing to blasting, honeycombing to bumping, make the procedures clear even without the finely wrought, realistic illustrations. Equally lifelike is the portrait of Gutzon Borglum, the autocratic artist commissioned for the work, who managed to offend just about everybody involved in the project. Perhaps the most insulted were the Native Americans; only passing reference is made to their belief that the area is sacred ground. Just as beautiful as Curlee’s previous works, this volume should be used in conjunction with other, more comprehensive texts. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-22573-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PLB 0-688-13166-2 King Midas And The Golden Touch ($16.00; PLB $15.63; Apr.; 32 pp.; 0-688-13165-4; PLB 0-688-13166-2): The familiar tale of King Midas gets the golden touch in the hands of Craft and Craft (Cupid and Psyche, 1996). The author takes her inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s retelling, capturing the essence of the tale with the use of pithy dialogue and colorful description. Enchanting in their own right, the illustrations summon the Middle Ages as a setting, and incorporate colors so lavish that when they are lost to the uniform gold spurred by King Midas’s touch, the point of the story is further burnished. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-13165-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Lunge-Larsen and Preus debut with this story of a flower that blooms for the first time to commemorate the uncommon courage of a girl who saves her people from illness. The girl, an Ojibwe of the northern woodlands, knows she must journey to the next village to get the healing herb, mash-ki- ki, for her people, who have all fallen ill. After lining her moccasins with rabbit fur, she braves a raging snowstorm and crosses a dark frozen lake to reach the village. Then, rather than wait for morning, she sets out for home while the villagers sleep. When she loses her moccasins in the deep snow, her bare feet are cut by icy shards, and bleed with every step until she reaches her home. The next spring beautiful lady slippers bloom from the place where her moccasins were lost, and from every spot her injured feet touched. Drawing on Ojibwe sources, the authors of this fluid retelling have peppered the tale with native words and have used traditional elements, e.g., giving voice to the forces of nature. The accompanying watercolors, with flowing lines, jewel tones, and decorative motifs, give stately credence to the story’s iconic aspects. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90512-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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