A poorly conceived art box that’s more likely to stifle any creative impulse than nurture it.
A brief history of modern sculpture, packaged with sturdy cardboard sheets of die-cut pieces that can be assembled into abstract…assemblages.
Alas, with this well-meaning work, Carter and Diaz prove that they should stick to the paper engineering for which they are both justly renowned. They start with a patchwork survey of Old World and African sculpture from prehistory to the turn of the 20th century and then introduce 10 “modern” sculptors (all of whom have been dead 25 years or more) in biographical sketches. The text throughout is weighted down with name-check references to other dead artists and art movements of the past along with mentions of important works that are not among the ones illustrated. The punch-out pieces in the accompanying box can be assembled into six sophisticated original abstracts without scissors or glue, but they have no evident stylistic connections to the work of the 10 profiled artists. Though the models come with explicit instructions for preferred assembly, the authors do include a few unlabeled pieces that can be slotted in where desired. But a dismissive cover claim that the models are similar to the preliminary “maquettes” that practicing sculptors sometimes make isn’t likely to provide young experimenters with much in the way of motivation.
A poorly conceived art box that’s more likely to stifle any creative impulse than nurture it. (bibliography) (Informational novelty. 10-13)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-1307-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
In this series debut, Maggie Sinclair tracks down a dognapper and solves a mystery about the noises in the walls of her Brooklyn brownstone apartment building. The 12-year-old heroine, who shares a middle name—Brooklyn—with her twin brother, Finn, is juggling two dogwalking jobs she’s keeping secret from her parents, and somehow she attracts the ire of the dogs’ former walker. Maggie tells her story in the first person—she’s self-possessed and likable, even when her clueless brother invites her ex–best friend, now something of an enemy, to their shared 12th birthday party. Maggie’s attention to details helps her to figure out why dogs seem to be disappearing and why there seem to be mice in the walls of her building, though astute readers will pick up on the solution to at least one mystery before Maggie solves it. There’s a brief nod to Nancy Drew, but the real tensions in this contemporary preteen story are more about friendship and boy crushes than skullduggery. Still, the setting is appealing, and Maggie is a smart and competent heroine whose personal life is just as interesting as—if not more than—her detective work. (Mystery. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 967-1-59990-525-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
Writing as authority “Miss Edythe McFate,” Blume reveals that, even in New York, fairy folk are all around—having adapted to the urban environment—and so city children had best take special care not to run afoul of them. In two-dozen short chapters she introduces many types, explains their powers and (usually mischievous) proclivities and dispels common superstitions. She also suggests doable practices and strategies to stay on their good sides, such as leaving dishes of warm water, flower petals and Gummi bears around the house and ushering inchworms and ladybugs (all of which are fairy pets) found indoors back outside rather than killing them. Along with frequent weedy borders and corner spots, Foote adds portraits of chubby or insectile creatures, often in baroque attire. Interspersed with eight original tales (of children rescuing brownies ejected from the Algonquin Hotel during renovations, discovering a magical farm behind a door in the Lincoln Tunnel and so on), this collection of lore (much of it newly minted) offers an entertaining change of pace from the more traditional likes of Susannah Marriott’s Field Guide to Fairies (2009). (Informational fantasy. 10-13)
Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-375-86203-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
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