When Little Boy James falls off the barn roof one Sunday morning and won’t wake up, Grandpa makes a rare trip up the hill to church—but he doesn’t pray the way his tagalong granddaughter expects him to. Roth (Happy Birthday Mr. Kang, p. 114, etc.) pairs her long but simply told miracle tale with huge, stunning collages made from tissue, handmade papers, fabrics, and leaves. Her small, crumpled figures float upon wide abstract backgrounds colored in hues chosen, she writes, to evoke dry, dusty, late summer days in America’s heartland. From the opening scenes caught through her “windows” as Little Boy James protests the confinement of church, the design shifts to reflect not only the setting, but also the moment in the story. The little sister standing alone in a narrow frame, the tiny brother on a vast swath of chenille, the tweedy doctor “flying” from his car across a sweep of blood-red earth, or the expanse of patchwork “fields” stretching between the house and the church aren’t simply pictures, they are a point of view. The congregation listens silently to long-winded Reverend Wilson, until Grandpa pulls out a penny whistle and blows a tune so sad and lonely that a choir of angels (garbed in transparent net) comes down through the stained-glass windows and fills the church. They follow him home, to sing around James’s bed until he opens his eyes. It’s a heart-filling (not to mention eye-filling) episode that will leave few readers unmoved—and the art is astonishing. (Picture book. 9-11)
Pub Date: May 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-84148-247-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay.
Renowned Latin American writer Alvarez has created another story about cultural identity, but this time the primary character is 11-year-old Miguel Guzmán.
When Tía Lola arrives to help the family, Miguel and his hermana, Juanita, have just moved from New York City to Vermont with their recently divorced mother. The last thing Miguel wants, as he's trying to fit into a predominantly white community, is a flamboyant aunt who doesn't speak a word of English. Tía Lola, however, knows a language that defies words; she quickly charms and befriends all the neighbors. She can also cook exotic food, dance (anywhere, anytime), plan fun parties, and tell enchanting stories. Eventually, Tía Lola and the children swap English and Spanish ejercicios, but the true lesson is "mutual understanding." Peppered with Spanish words and phrases, Alvarez makes the reader as much a part of the "language" lessons as the characters. This story seamlessly weaves two culturaswhile letting each remain intact, just as Miguel is learning to do with his own life. Like all good stories, this one incorporates a lesson just subtle enough that readers will forget they're being taught, but in the end will understand themselves, and others, a little better, regardless of la lengua nativa—the mother tongue.
Simple, bella, un regalo permenente: simple and beautiful, a gift that will stay. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-80215-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The book is a cute, but rather standard offering from Avi (Tom, Babette, and Simon, p. 776, etc.).
An adolescent mouse named Poppy is off on a romantic tryst with her rebel boyfriend when they are attacked by Mr. Ocax, the owl who rules over the area.
He kills the boyfriend, but Poppy escapes and Mr. Ocax vows to catch her. Mr. Ocax has convinced all the mice that he is their protector when, in fact, he preys on them mercilessly. When the mice ask his permission to move to a new house, he refuses, blaming Poppy for his decision. Poppy suspects that there is another reason Mr. Ocax doesn't want them to move and investigates to clear her name. With the help of a prickly old porcupine and her quick wits, Poppy defeats her nemesis and her own fears, saving her family in the bargain.
The book is a cute, but rather standard offering from Avi (Tom, Babette, and Simon, p. 776, etc.). (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09483-9
Page Count: 147
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1995
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