An oddity, this: four picture-stories, printed on heavy coated stock, that together make up a thick, 6(apple)" by 9(apple)", 200-page volume. But regardless of the format, none of the four stories would stand up to scrutiny. "The Golden Brothers" starts with a fisherman, his demanding, bossy wife, and a gift-bestowing fish (a direct steal from you-know-what); then switches to two golden lilies, golden foals, and golden boys bestowed by the fish (supposedly, to get the wife off his back); then takes up the adventures of the bolder of the two golden boys—who foils some robbers, marries "the most beautiful girl in the world," pursues a stag, runs afoul of a witch who turns him to stone, and is finally freed by his brother. . . who knew something was amiss when one of the golden lilies snapped. One stock fairy-tale motif succeeds another, to no emotional effect and little plot purpose. And, even more surprising considering the authorship, the writing is just awful: "Beyond the forest there was a village, and in it was the most beautiful girl in the world alive. As soon as he saw her, the boy loved her. 'Marry me,' said the boy. 'I will,' said the girl. So the girl and the boy were married, and lived happily." Both the next story, "The Girl of the Golden Gate," and the fourth, "The Princess and the Golden Mane," consist in large measure of long chase sequences in which the girls pursued throw down various objects to thwart their pursuers and make their escape. (The former also involves a mother who, for no given reason, "doesn't like" her daughter and sends her to be killed.) The remaining story, "The Three Golden Heads of the Well," follows the old good-sister-rewarded/bad-sister-penalized pattern—with somewhat unusual props. Except for that one really sinister mother, and an ogre or two, pretty much a non-experience—complete to the vacant full-color pictures.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1981
ISBN: 0001952633
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1981
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
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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