In this original story modeled on traditional Eastern European folktales, a young egg painter is enlisted by the Firebird to disguise the four Eggs of Earth, Air, Water, and Fire so that Baba Yaga cannot find them. The plan works for the first three, but when little Masha leaves on an errand, her mother heedlessly sells the Egg of Fire to an old woman (guess who). With magical help, Masha tracks down the iron-toothed witch outside her spinning, chicken-legged house. In the ensuing confrontation the Firebird is burnt to ashes, but rises again from the reclaimed Egg. Using deep, vivid colors, Wilson splashes the Firebird magnificently across shadowed, mysterious-looking forest backdrops, adding pictures of real eggs decorated not with traditional motifs but simply painted images—readers who would like to try egg painting themselves will find encouragement and basic instructions at the end. A four-line verse in Cyrillic, translated on the endpapers, is repeated beneath each egg as a visual and verbal chorus to this dramatic, atmospheric tale. Fans of Baba Yaga stories will be delighted. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-84089-134-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Nolen and Nelson offer a smaller, but no less gifted counterpart to Big Jabe (2000) in this new tall tale. Shortly after being born one stormy night, Rose thanks her parents, picks a name, and gathers lightning into a ball—all of which is only a harbinger of feats to come. Decked out in full cowboy gear and oozing self-confidence from every pore, Rose cuts a diminutive, but heroic figure in Nelson’s big, broad Western scenes. Though she carries a twisted iron rod as dark as her skin and ropes clouds with fencing wire, Rose overcomes her greatest challenge—a pair of rampaging twisters—not with strength, but with a lullaby her parents sang. After turning tornadoes into much-needed rain clouds, Rose rides away, “that mighty, mighty song pressing on the bull’s-eye that was set at the center of her heart.” Throughout, she shows a reflective bent that gives her more dimension than most tall-tale heroes: a doff of the Stetson to her and her creators. (author’s note) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-216472-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Whistle/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003
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