From the author of The Half-a-Moon Inn; three polished tales set in the past and told with dexterous application of old genre techniques. The first makes a cracking little whodunit of a reclusive old woman, her deaf hired girl who can lip-read secrets, and the mysterious death of a whole ship's crew. The second makes a light courtship comedy of a lovesick shoemaker's apprentice who reads personal guidance into the direction faced by the saint on a broken weather vane, and constructs love messages in the language of flowers that only he is aware of. In the third story, a poor, snobbish sculptor is given a commission by an unsavory ghost, who destroys the sculptor's illusions about his high-and-mighty idols. Fleischman establishes a storyteller's hold on his audience; they can put themselves in his hands with the assurance that they won't be disappointed—and that all the surprises will be well within the established conventions.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1982
ISBN: 0763629847
Page Count: 116
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1982
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
The glowing friendship of Frog and Toad continues, with Frog as the wiser, supportive partner easing Toad through his small frustrations and uncertainties. Frog plays the sympathetic sounding board while Toad convinces himself to clean house today and take it easy tomorrow instead of the other way round; he encourages Toad through a fourth and finally successful try at kite flying despite the robins' ridicule; he scares himself and Toad with a shivery ghost story that might or might not have happened to him; and, less admirably perhaps, he shrinks Toad's too-big birthday hat with water while leading his friend to believe that Toad's own big thoughts have enlarged his head. Once more, Lobel leaves the two with their friendship reaffirmed, this time after Toad misinterprets his friend's desire to be alone for a while. As in Frog and Toad All Year (1976) the relationship has settled into a comfortable, conflict-free pattern; but the complementary pair continues to delight and vulnerable Toad to invite sympathetic recognition.
Pub Date: Oct. 3, 1979
ISBN: 081243417X
Page Count: -
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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