Adding a few details of his own (“ ‘I’m Zeus, your brother,’ said the victorious young god. ‘Let’s play!’ ”) to ancient sources, Karas tracks the mighty lad as he grows up in hiding, forces his father Cronus to vomit up his older brother-and-sister gods, then frees his aunts and uncles the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers to battle their own sibs, the Titans, for supremacy. Using pencil and gouache on heavily textured paper, the author/illustrator creates hazy scenes of the lightly draped gods and their diminutive rescuer quarreling amongst themselves, oblivious to the huge, brutish monsters closing in. Both playful scale and amusing details will ensure illustrations get second and even third looks. Carrying a sheaf of oversized lightning bolts, Zeus prevails against both the Titans and his immediate clan, ushering in an age of “fun and order on Mount Olympus.” Underplaying the old tale’s violence (and leaving the gods’ sexual “fun” out altogether) without losing its general drift, the author crafts a robust but light alternative to the plethora of more conventional renditions available. (dramatis personae, author’s note) (Picture book/mythology. 7-9)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-439-72806-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Nolen and Nelson offer a smaller, but no less gifted counterpart to Big Jabe (2000) in this new tall tale. Shortly after being born one stormy night, Rose thanks her parents, picks a name, and gathers lightning into a ball—all of which is only a harbinger of feats to come. Decked out in full cowboy gear and oozing self-confidence from every pore, Rose cuts a diminutive, but heroic figure in Nelson’s big, broad Western scenes. Though she carries a twisted iron rod as dark as her skin and ropes clouds with fencing wire, Rose overcomes her greatest challenge—a pair of rampaging twisters—not with strength, but with a lullaby her parents sang. After turning tornadoes into much-needed rain clouds, Rose rides away, “that mighty, mighty song pressing on the bull’s-eye that was set at the center of her heart.” Throughout, she shows a reflective bent that gives her more dimension than most tall-tale heroes: a doff of the Stetson to her and her creators. (author’s note) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-216472-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Whistle/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003
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