A lighthearted, if carefully honed, fable that young readers can enjoy for its whimsical good humor while adults ponder Le Guin's continuing exploration of yin and yang. The "Thinking Man of Moha" lives in a tidy Victorian mansion, keeps a cow and a garden, catches fish, and serves nutritious meals featuring milk and vegetables. The "Writing Woman of Maho" lives nearby in a splendidly untidy stone cottage with a crowd of cats and winged mice, binding her books and occasionally making fish soup. The two visit each other for amiable meals and conversation; when the man suggests that they might have a child (to carry messages and finish the pudding), the woman doesn't see the point; neither one, in fact, wants to give up any part of their established role. Still, the woman agrees, though "I have a feeling it many not be so easy." Two half-grown children materialize; and, after the couple realizes that the boy is growing too large because the woman expects too much of him, while the girl consists of only a dress and shoes because the man expects too little, a cheerful accommodation is reached, incorporating the new generation. Though almost schematic in its simplicity, the tale engages with its imaginative touches of fantasy, elaborated with wry common sense. Wynne, new to children's books, enhances it enormously with his charming drawings, with forms announced in bold, sure lines and completed in delicate stippling. The illustrations are crammed with amusing and intriguing details, especially the delightful mice. A classic. (Fiction. 5+)
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-689-31733-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1992
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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