An attention-getting double cover with a die-cut window is the most—quite possibly the only—memorable feature of this cursory look at two vanished cultures and three abandoned cities. After opening with the startlingly original claim that the Fertile Crescent was where “the first humans walked,” Linnéa sandwiches a chapter on Atlantis between descriptions of the re-discoveries of Ur and the cities of the Maya and of Pompeii and Angkor Wat. Offering a blend of standard facts and outright misinformation—the Mayans “never invented the wheel” (probably wrong, as ancient wheeled toys have been discovered) and “didn’t realize that they could use animals such as mules [and] horses…” (both of which were unknown in the Americas until imported from Europe)—with a spare handful of muddy photos and stylized sketches of ancient scenes or archeologists in action for illustration, this entry in the “Mysteries Unwrapped” series doesn’t come close to measuring up to the likes of Rebecca Stefoff’s Finding the Lost Cities (1998). (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4027-3984-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2009
Norman (The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese, 1997) presents seven trickster tales collected from living Algonquian storytellers, collated from multiple versions and backed up by specific source notes. That said, the scholarship is unobtrusive, and readers will have no trouble following Trickster from one pickle to the next. They may be puzzled at times—in the first story a meeting with a man/bear-hermit persuades Trickster, for some reason, to stop boasting that he’s “best at being alone”—but they’ll also laugh when Fox is bamboozled out of all but the feet of a brace of ducks, or when Trickster is tricked out in a coat of moldy fish heads in one tale, and a weasel’s tail in another. The lines of text are varied in length to evoke the cadences of live telling, and Pohrt’s human and animal figures are depicted with expressive, fine-lined realism. An inviting, inarguably authentic collection. (Folklore. 8-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-200888-8
Page Count: 82
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Whirls of tiny, brightly dressed people’some with wings—fill Kleven’s kaleidoscopic portraits of sun-drenched Los Angeles neighborhoods and landmarks; the Los Angeles—based authors supply equally colorful accounts of the city’s growth, festivals, and citizens, using an appended chronology to squeeze in a few more anecdotes. As does Kathy Jakobsen’s My New York (1998), Jaskol and Lewis’s book captures a vivid sense of a major urban area’s bustle, diversity, and distinctive character; young Angelenos will get a hearty dose of civic pride, and children everywhere will find new details in the vibrant illustrations at every pass. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-525-46214-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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