As untamed as the creatures she depicts, Baynes introduces more than two dozen animals real and fantastical—all drawn from medieval European sources—with often eyebrow-raising comments on their grosser habits, as well as the various medicines and aphrodisiacs that could, purportedly, be made from their parts. Some entries, such as the horse and the crocodile, are more likely to be observed in real life than the likes of satyrs, manticores or bonnacons, but none will be totally recognizable. That crocodile, for instance, not only sports red legs and a cow-like head in the finely detailed, manuscript-style portrait, but also produces dung that makes “old women and faded whores” appear beautiful. From the lion, whose cubs are supposedly born dead but licked to life by the male, to the phoenix, dubbed “the first example of resurrection, regeneration, and cloning,” this menagerie will provide a rousing, if somewhat more narrowly focused, alternative to Jonathan Hunt’s Bestiary (1998), as well as a springboard for young imaginations. (source list of manuscripts) (Folklore. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-8028-5284-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
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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