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ODIN'S FAMILY

Name: ODIN'S FAMILY
Author: Neil Philip
ISBN: 0-531-09531-2

by Neil Philip & illustrated by Maryclare Foa ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1996

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A retelling of Norse mythology, from creation to Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods, including stories about Odin, Loki, Thor, and the giants of Jotunheim. Philip (Singing America, 1995, etc.) adds little that is new to the already considerable body of Norse myths available for young readers, but his competent retellings retain an elegant formality. A ``Who's Who'' puts the gods in their places, while the afterword contains interesting information about the Poetic and Prose Eddas, and about Christian influences and parallels. Foa's striking oil paintings have a look best described as somewhere between colored woodcuts and cave paintings; her unusual approach gives the book a quality of something ancient rediscovered, wholly appropriate to the subject. They make the book extraordinary. (further reading) (Folklore. 10+)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-531-09531-2

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Orchard

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
HOT POTATO
edited by Neil Philip & illustrated by Claire Henley

- BOOK REVIEW
HORSE HOOVES AND CHICKEN FEET
adapted by Neil Philip & illustrated by Jacqueline Mair

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE HOUSE OF HAPPINESS
edited by Neil Philip & illustrated by Isabelle Brent

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A YEAR DOWN YONDER

From the Grandma Dowdel series , Vol. 2

by Richard Peck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

Year-round fun.

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Set in 1937 during the so-called “Roosevelt recession,” tight times compel Mary Alice, a Chicago girl, to move in with her grandmother, who lives in a tiny Illinois town so behind the times that it doesn’t “even have a picture show.”

This winning sequel takes place several years after A Long Way From Chicago (1998) leaves off, once again introducing the reader to Mary Alice, now 15, and her Grandma Dowdel, an indomitable, idiosyncratic woman who despite her hard-as-nails exterior is able to see her granddaughter with “eyes in the back of her heart.” Peck’s slice-of-life novel doesn’t have much in the way of a sustained plot; it could almost be a series of short stories strung together, but the narrative never flags, and the book, populated with distinctive, soulful characters who run the gamut from crazy to conventional, holds the reader’s interest throughout. And the vignettes, some involving a persnickety Grandma acting nasty while accomplishing a kindness, others in which she deflates an overblown ego or deals with a petty rivalry, are original and wildly funny. The arena may be a small hick town, but the battle for domination over that tiny turf is fierce, and Grandma Dowdel is a canny player for whom losing isn’t an option. The first-person narration is infused with rich, colorful language—“She was skinnier than a toothpick with termites”—and Mary Alice’s shrewd, prickly observations: “Anybody who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

Year-round fun. (Fiction. 11-13)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000

ISBN: 978-0-8037-2518-8

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BEST MAN
by Richard Peck

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL
by Richard Peck ; illustrated by Kelly Murphy

- BOOK REVIEW
SECRETS AT SEA
by Richard Peck illustrated by Kelly Murphy

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A WEEK IN THE WOODS

by Andrew Clements ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002

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Playing on his customary theme that children have more on the ball than adults give them credit for, Clements (Big Al and Shrimpy, p. 951, etc.) pairs a smart, unhappy, rich kid and a small-town teacher too quick to judge on appearances. Knowing that he’ll only be finishing up the term at the local public school near his new country home before hieing off to an exclusive academy, Mark makes no special effort to fit in, just sitting in class and staring moodily out the window. This rubs veteran science teacher Bill Maxwell the wrong way, big time, so that even after Mark realizes that he’s being a snot and tries to make amends, all he gets from Mr. Maxwell is the cold shoulder. Matters come to a head during a long-anticipated class camping trip; after Maxwell catches Mark with a forbidden knife (a camp mate’s, as it turns out) and lowers the boom, Mark storms off into the woods. Unaware that Mark is a well-prepared, enthusiastic (if inexperienced) hiker, Maxwell follows carelessly, sure that the “slacker” will be waiting for rescue around the next bend—and breaks his ankle running down a slope. Reconciliation ensues once he hobbles painfully into Mark’s neatly organized camp, and the two make their way back together. This might have some appeal to fans of Gary Paulsen’s or Will Hobbs’s more catastrophic survival tales, but because Clements pauses to explain—at length—everyone’s history, motives, feelings, and mindset, it reads more like a scenario (albeit an empowering one, at least for children) than a story. Worthy—but just as Maxwell underestimates his new student, so too does Clement underestimate his readers’ ability to figure out for themselves what’s going on in each character’s life and head. (Fiction. 10-12)