adapted by Richard Schotter & Roni Schotter & illustrated by R.W. Alley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1994
``Hold, friends, hold!/We are very cold./Inside and outside,/we are very cold./Something to warm us,/if we may./For that, kind folks,/we'll give you a play.'' So starts this marvelous adaptation of the revel known as the Oxfordshire St. George play. The play is a simple one about the subduing of a dragon. What is so compelling here is the vibrancy brought to the revel. Alley's illustrations throng with activity and color, testaments to the pleasures of mock seriousness (even if they do seem to borrow a tad heavily from Maurice Sendak; then again, he's no mean inspiration, so why quibble?). The revel—house-to- house evening entertainments enacted during the winter holidays- -is an institution that never should have faded away. But television and radio, not to mention the dangers of the modern night, stole its thunder. With Arthurian urgency and bright festivity, this book may launch a second wave for those roving nighttime theatricals. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-531-06858-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
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by Kobi Yamada ; illustrated by Natalie Russell ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2017
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
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New York Times Bestseller
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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by Antoinette Portis & illustrated by Antoinette Portis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2006
Dedicated “to children everywhere sitting in cardboard boxes,” this elemental debut depicts a bunny with big, looping ears demonstrating to a rather thick, unseen questioner (“Are you still standing around in that box?”) that what might look like an ordinary carton is actually a race car, a mountain, a burning building, a spaceship or anything else the imagination might dream up. Portis pairs each question and increasingly emphatic response with a playscape of Crockett Johnson–style simplicity, digitally drawn with single red and black lines against generally pale color fields. Appropriately bound in brown paper, this makes its profound point more directly than such like-themed tales as Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Dana Kessimakis Smith’s Brave Spaceboy (2005). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-112322-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2006
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