When a Monty Python alum offers a novelization of an Edward Lear poem, it's practically guaranteed to be a Silly Walk. Evolution's very governor, the fabulous Bong Tree, has disappeared from a museum on the shores of Lake Pipple-popple, and two parties are out to track it down: the nefarious Fire Lord with his sulfurous but inept minions, and the familiar furred and feathered sweethearts. It's a long chase, over sea, the Great Gromboolian Plain, and the Land of Water, past Pie-rats, reanimated dinosaur fossils, and the Mulberry Jam Pits, with all sorts of Learian flora and fauna to be met along the way—some of it ready to burst into song. The Fire Lord imposes an Ice Age that leaves Owl frozen solid, but Pussycat's kiss melts bird and climate too; all rush off just in time to save the Bong Tree (which closely resembles a wilted leek) and bombard the Fire Lord with pies. The wedding proceeds, to the tune of the ``Wedding April'' (March is too cold for weddings), and Owl and Pussycat are last seen ``hand in hand on the edge of the sand,'' dancing by the light of the moon. Illustrated with a mix of Lear's sketches and new pen-and-ink drawings in the same spirit, this delivers the kind of funny business for which Idle is known, and will probably appease adult Python fans who wish to pass on a gentler form of the lunacy to their children. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-7871-1042-6
Page Count: 123
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996
A world-class charmer, Clements (The Janitor’s Boy, 2000, etc.) woos aspiring young authors—as well as grown up publishers, editors, agents, parents, teachers, and even reviewers—with this tongue-in-cheek tale of a 12-year-old novelist’s triumphant debut. Sparked by a chance comment of her mother’s, a harried assistant editor for a (surely fictional) children’s imprint, Natalie draws on deep reserves of feeling and writing talent to create a moving story about a troubled schoolgirl and her father. First, it moves her pushy friend Zoe, who decides that it has to be published; then it moves a timorous, second-year English teacher into helping Zoe set up a virtual literary agency; then, submitted pseudonymously, it moves Natalie’s unsuspecting mother into peddling it to her waspish editor-in-chief. Depicting the world of children’s publishing as a delicious mix of idealism and office politics, Clements squires the manuscript past slush pile and contract, the editing process, and initial buzz (“The Cheater grabs hold of your heart and never lets go,” gushes Kirkus). Finally, in a tearful, joyous scene—carefully staged by Zoe, who turns out to be perfect agent material: cunning, loyal, devious, manipulative, utterly shameless—at the publication party, Natalie’s identity is revealed as news cameras roll. Selznick’s gnomic, realistic portraits at once reflect the tale’s droll undertone and deftly capture each character’s distinct personality. Terrific for flourishing school writing projects, this is practical as well as poignant. Indeed, it “grabs hold of yourheart and never lets go.” (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-82594-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
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