A compelling tale about the passing of artistic vision from generation to generation. When young Josiah True meets a traveling artist who has come to paint his family's portrait, he begins to discover his own calling. The ``Art Maker,'' as Patience Cage is known in her travels around the Connecticut River Valley of 1817, has a very special vision of the world—it is said that ``she can see into the very soul of a man!'' Josiah is fascinated by the tools of her trade, the paints she mixes, and the paintbrushes she has fashioned out of hog bristles. He watches raptly as Patience paints the reality of his mother's dark eyes and hidden smile, and includes a picture of a grand red gown his mother would like to own, but doesn't. When the portrait is completed, Patience gives Josiah a bound bristle brush. He grows up and becomes an artist who can ``see into the very soul of a man.'' Littlesugar (The Spinner's Daughter, 1994) subtly creates a sense of time and place, further enhanced by Garrison's work. The folk art illustrations, in sepia and other earth tones, were created by a technique described on the copyright page as ``collagraphy.'' Like Josiah, readers will be intrigued by the artist's method for creation of her illusions. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-671-88354-2
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1995
The can’t-miss subject of this Step into Reading series entry—a unicorn with a magic horn who also longs for wings—trumps its text, which is dry even by easy-reader standards. A boy unicorn, whose horn has healing powers, reveals his wish to a butterfly in a castle garden, a bluebird in the forest and a snowy white swan in a pond. Falling asleep at the edge of the sea, the unicorn is visited by a winged white mare. He heals her broken wing and she flies away. After sadly invoking his wish once more, he sees his reflection: “He had big white wings!” He flies off after the mare, because he “wanted to say, ‘Thank you.’ ” Perfectly suiting this confection, Silin-Palmer’s pictures teem with the mass market–fueled iconography of what little girls are (ostensibly) made of: rainbows, flowers, twinkly stars and, of course, manes down to there. (Easy reader. 4-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2006
ISBN: 0-375-83117-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
Pedestrian.
Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.
Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
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