Myers obscures his point in this original tale, which features the famous poet and a fox who challenges him to write a poem that “ ‘needn’t be great—only good.’ ” When Basho tries to drive a fox away from a prize cherry tree, the animal—standing on two legs and clad in a gorgeously patterned robe—issues its dare, haughtily declaring that his kind are far superior to humans as poets. The fox pooh-poohs Basho’s first two carefully crafted efforts, then professes awed delight at his desperately extemporaneous third—“Summer moon over / mountains is white as the tip / of a fox’s tail.” Why does this one satisfy? Because Basho has put a fox in it. Myers then closes with several conclusions, which are so subtle as to risk being missed by the reader. Han’s precisely drafted watercolors (Kongi and Potgi, 1994) place her figures in a leafy, semi-wild landscape bursting with inspiration for a nature poet. The muddled message keeps this from succeeding completely as a story, but, like Matthew Gollub’s Cool Melons, Turn to Frogs! The Life and Poems of Issa (1998), it could introduce a poet who should be known to every poetry reader. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7614-5068-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Nolen and Nelson offer a smaller, but no less gifted counterpart to Big Jabe (2000) in this new tall tale. Shortly after being born one stormy night, Rose thanks her parents, picks a name, and gathers lightning into a ball—all of which is only a harbinger of feats to come. Decked out in full cowboy gear and oozing self-confidence from every pore, Rose cuts a diminutive, but heroic figure in Nelson’s big, broad Western scenes. Though she carries a twisted iron rod as dark as her skin and ropes clouds with fencing wire, Rose overcomes her greatest challenge—a pair of rampaging twisters—not with strength, but with a lullaby her parents sang. After turning tornadoes into much-needed rain clouds, Rose rides away, “that mighty, mighty song pressing on the bull’s-eye that was set at the center of her heart.” Throughout, she shows a reflective bent that gives her more dimension than most tall-tale heroes: a doff of the Stetson to her and her creators. (author’s note) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-216472-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Whistle/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003
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