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THE DARK WOOD OF THE GOLDEN BIRDS

Name: THE DARK WOOD OF THE GOLDEN BIRDS
Author: Margaret Wise Brown

by Margaret Wise Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 1950

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When two artists like this artist with words and Leonard Weisgard join forces here should be occasion for exultation. But this time we feel that they have gone too far into a rarified atmosphere remote from child interest. There's even a subtle aura of fear engendered — and never clarified in the story of the forest from which comes the music of golden birds, into which people who venture never return or else return speaking an unknown language. An old man shelters two wayfaring children, and keeps for them the magic of the forest and the song. But when they want to enter the wood he breaks the charm by saying he cannot hear the song and the birds are unreal. He becomes ill; the boy goes into the forest; and when ultimately he returns, the magic is there again but the mystery remains illusive. Somehow it doesn't come off.

Pub Date: June 21, 1950

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1950

- BOOK REVIEW
TWO LITTLE TRAINS
by Margaret Wise Brown ; illustrated by Greg Pizzoli

- BOOK REVIEW
A HOME IN THE BARN
by Margaret Wise Brown ; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

- BOOK REVIEW
GOOD DAY, GOOD NIGHT
by Margaret Wise Brown ; illustrated by Loren Long

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HANSEL AND GRETEL

by Stephen King ; illustrated by Maurice Sendak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2025

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.

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Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.

In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025

ISBN: 9780062644695

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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WRECKING BALL

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 14

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.

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The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.

When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)