WHISPER OF THE EAST

Name: WHISPER OF THE EAST
Author: Franziska Meiners
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4323-3

edited by Franziska Meiners ; illustrated by Franziska Meiners ; translated by David Henry Wilson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 2, 2018

Beautiful but deeply flawed.

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A book of Arabic folktales and fables with minimalist illustrations, translated from the German.

Meiners attempts to provide readers with a story for each part of the Middle East—or, as she describes the region in her foreword, “Arabia.” Varying in length, each story offers a moral or a lesson as a window into the native cultures of its characters. Although some plotlines are familiar, others are unique, such as the Palestinian story “A Little Camel,” which takes readers into the underground world of the “Djinns,” or “The Old Pair of Shoes,” a story about a man who desperately tries to rid himself of his unlucky shoes. Visually it shines. Meiners’ style is minimalist and distinctive, using only cyan and magenta, sometimes overlaid to make brown, to create captivating illustrations. Culturally, however, it does not. While Meiners does offer some context to the stories and the region from which these tales are borrowed, her framing of the book around “Arabia”—a “magical world” and “distant lands”—falls into orientalist tropes of the Middle East that exoticize, simplify, and distort elements of the region’s cultures. On a more granular level, the book has gaps and errors. Despite the inclusion of a Palestinian story, Palestine does not appear on the appended map, and although Iran is on the map, there is no Iranian story; most Iraqis do not speak Persian, as a note asserts; and “djinn” is a plural noun already.

Beautiful but deeply flawed. (glossary, activities) (Folktales. 7-12)

Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-7358-4323-3

Page Count: 112

Publisher: NorthSouth

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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THE GRAPES OF MATH

MIND-STRETCHING MATH RIDDLES

by Greg Tang & illustrated by Harry Briggs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2001

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This genuinely clever math book uses rhyming couplets and riddles, as well as visual cues to help the reader find new ways to group numbers for quick counting. It’s a return to number sets, with none of those boring parentheses and <>signs. Here the rhyme gives a clue to the new ways of grouping numbers. For example: “Mama mia, pizza pie, / How many mushrooms do you spy? / Please don’t count them, it’s too slow, / This hot pie was made to go! / Let me give you some advice, / Just do half and count it twice.” A quick look at the pizza, and the reader can see each slice has the same number of mushrooms. Count by threes for half the pie, and double it. Each rhyme is given a double-page spread. The extra-large, brightly colored images leap off the page but never distract from the author’s intent. Some riddles are very challenging, but the author provides all the solutions in the back. Once the reader has seen the answers, the strategy is obvious and can be applied to other situations. Great fun for math enthusiasts and creative thinkers, this might also teach adults some new tricks. A winning addition. (Nonfiction. 7-10)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-439-21033-X

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
MATH FABLES TOO
by Greg Tang & illustrated by Taia Morley

- BOOK REVIEW
MATH POTATOES
by Greg Tang & illustrated by Harry Briggs

- BOOK REVIEW
MATH-TERPIECES
by Greg Tang & illustrated by Greg Paprocki

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COYOTE TALES

by Thomas King ; illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2017

Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote...

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Two republished tales by a Greco-Cherokee author feature both folkloric and modern elements as well as new illustrations.

One of the two has never been offered south of the (Canadian) border. In “Coyote Sings to the Moon,” the doo-wop hymn sung nightly by Old Woman and all the animals except tone-deaf Coyote isn’t enough to keep Moon from hiding out at the bottom of the lake—until she is finally driven forth by Coyote’s awful wailing. She has been trying to return to the lake ever since, but that piercing howl keeps her in the sky. In “Coyote’s New Suit” he is schooled in trickery by Raven, who convinces him to steal the pelts of all the other animals while they’re bathing, sends the bare animals to take clothes from the humans’ clothesline, and then sets the stage for a ruckus by suggesting that Coyote could make space in his overcrowded closet by having a yard sale. No violence ensues, but from then to now humans and animals have not spoken to one another. In Eggenschwiler’s monochrome scenes Coyote and the rest stand on hind legs and (when stripped bare) sport human limbs. Old Woman might be Native American; the only other completely human figure is a pale-skinned girl.

Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote tales. (Fiction. 9-11)