Nesbit’s wry 1908 telling casts Jack as a dreamy lad more adept at composing poems about “the Dignity of Labor” than engaging in it. She enlivens the familiar plot with chatty speculation, nimble description and a tidy resolution. The giant’s realm is a desolate landscape of withered trees and streams gone dry. A fairy defines Jack’s quest, revealing that Jack’s unknown father, ruler of that very land, had been killed by the giant, who imprisoned his subjects in the trees. The fairy confirms that Jack’s mission is “the one particular dream” that he heretofore “never could quite dream.” Jack’s thievery of the golden egg-laying hen, money bags and magic harp, laid out as a righteous corrective to the giant’s usurpation, is ably facilitated by the giant’s wife, “whose only fault was that she was too ready to trust boys.” Tavares’s handsome pencil-and-watercolor pictures deliver a satisfyingly scary giant, his shirt bloodstained, his comb-over topped with the stolen, too-small crown, his house strewn with the skulls of victims. No source notes, but thoroughly satisfying nonetheless. (Picture book/folktale. 5-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-2124-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
None
One more myth dispelled for all the students who believe that their teachers live in their classrooms. During the last week of school, Mrs. Hartwell and her students reflect on the things they will miss, while also looking forward to the fun that summer will bring. The kids want to cheer up their teacher, whom they imagine will be crying over lesson plans and missing them all summer long. But what gift will cheer her up? Numerous ideas are rejected, until Eddie comes up with the perfect plan. They all cooperate to create a rhyming ode to the school year and their teacher. Love’s renderings of the children are realistic, portraying the diversity of modern-day classrooms, from dress and expression to gender and skin color. She perfectly captures the emotional trauma the students imagine their teachers will go through as they leave for the summer. Her final illustration hysterically shatters that myth, and will have every teacher cheering aloud. What a perfect end to the school year. (Picture book. 5-8)
None NonePub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-58089-046-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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