The warm and inviting earliest adventures of a favorite children’s book character from another era.
A new translation of the first novel in a children’s series from a century ago introduces a sunny German heroine.
Lehrer continues his important and approachable annotated translation of the series of beloved German children’s classics with this English-language rendition of 1913’s Nesthäkchen und ihre Puppen. This is the first installment in Ury’s 10-book series starring blonde, blue-eyed Annemarie Braun, the “Nesthäkchen,” or little pet daughter, in the family of a successful Berlin doctor and his wife. The series gave its readers—adults and children alike—a warmly sentimentalized picture of an “ideal German girl” from her early childhood to her old age. In this volume, Lehrer presents the very beginning of the series, in which the little Nesthäkchen has just turned 6 years old. Her parents spoil her, the family servants dote on her, her brothers tease her affectionately, and, as Annemarie herself asks one of her dolls, “Isn’t it a fine world?” Perhaps inevitably, this is by far the most whimsical and carefree of the Nesthäkchen volumes, with consequently less work for Lehrer the conscientious annotator to do (a footnote about whooping cough is pretty much all the critical apparatus he needs to add this time around). Annemarie spends her time being adored by her parents even when she misbehaves and being cosseted by her nanny even when she’s an adorable handful. Ury adds to the whimsy by taking readers inside the thoughts of Annemarie’s dolls (hence the book’s title), presenting their musings about their caretaker and the other toys in the nursery. It’s a bright, smiling look at German childhood in the old empire, untouched by the two horrifying world wars that lie in the future. At one point, the Nesthäkchen visits family members on a farm in Arnsdorf, giving Ury plenty of opportunities for heartwarming scenes evoking a country idyll (the book reprints the German edition’s charming illustrations). Lehrer’s translation remains clear and inviting throughout, and the volume leaves Annemarie poised to depart her nursery and attend school, where more escapades await.
The warm and inviting earliest adventures of a favorite children’s book character from another era.Pub Date: March 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5306-4200-7
Page Count: 226
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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