Elusive.
"I'm a streak of light! I'm a trick-maker! I'm Jahdu just running through!"
This free self-description is the first suggestion we get of Jahdu's identity, and it occurs after pages of Jahdu running along, shaking off his "Jahdu dust" anti gathering it back into himself; trying to put a "wing-low bird" to sleep and then trying to change into the child Lee Edward but failing in both attempts because, as both bird and boy tell him, "you have lost something and you don't know it"). Jahdu himself is absent from the pictures, and beginning readers who have not encountered him in Hamilton's previous stories will have a hard time forming any picture of her elusive figment. Those who stick with the story will be treated to some rich and snappy dialogue between Jahdu and his shadow, and some highly imaginative, playfully mythic doings off beyond the horizon. There Jahdu confronts the pesky CIGAM, which turns out to be his own magic, spelled backwards and wrapped around his rebellious shadow. The adventure is related with a spellbinding profusion of imagery, rhythm, and impish exuberance, which makes it well worth trying. In the realms to which Hamilton transports them, children might miss the orienting presence of a companion that can be either seen (to the end, we glimpse only Jahdu's shadow and a pair of sandaled feet), defined (is he an imaginary boy, a spirit, or what?), or traced somewhere (there's no storytelling Mama Luka here, no background on the passing Lee Edwards).
Elusive.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 1980
ISBN: 068880246X
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1980
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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