Supremely sophisticated bedtime fare, Rodari’s mildly muddled hoot revels in its own peculiar humor.
In this Italian import, first published in 1978, an elderly nobleman discovers the secret to youth…and endures the troubles that follow.
On a private island, 93-year-old Baron Lamberto abides with 24 maladies and his manservant, Anselmo. Together, the two invite six people to repeat the name “Lamberto” without cease. They are well paid and well fed but baffled by the assignment. They wouldn’t be if they could see how their efforts cause the aged baron to grow younger and younger. His greedy nephew Ottavio catches wind of the operation and schemes to get his inheritance sooner, but his nefarious plans are upended by the arrival of 24 bandits who promptly ransom Lamberto for their own purposes. While the storytelling traipses dangerously close to being more amusing to adults than children, its illogical logic more often than not transcends age. Translator Shugaar perfectly taps into the fiasco’s flavor, deftly displaying Rodari’s propensity for silliness, though his introduction makes it clear that there are political messages embedded throughout, which young readers likely won’t pick up on. Muradov’s illustrations pay homage to Bruno Munari’s abstract artwork, featured in the book’s 1980 edition, while giving the tale a gentle tone entirely of its own. Some parents or caregivers may be a bit perturbed by the images of oversize guns. Characters have skin the white of the page.
Supremely sophisticated bedtime fare, Rodari’s mildly muddled hoot revels in its own peculiar humor. (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781592704156
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often...
A successful juvenile by the beloved New Yorker writer portrays a farm episode with an imaginative twist that makes a poignant, humorous story of a pig, a spider and a little girl.
Young Fern Arable pleads for the life of runt piglet Wilbur and gets her father to sell him to a neighbor, Mr. Zuckerman. Daily, Fern visits the Zuckermans to sit and muse with Wilbur and with the clever pen spider Charlotte, who befriends him when he is lonely and downcast. At the news of Wilbur's forthcoming slaughter, campaigning Charlotte, to the astonishment of people for miles around, spins words in her web. "Some Pig" comes first. Then "Terrific"—then "Radiant". The last word, when Wilbur is about to win a show prize and Charlotte is about to die from building her egg sac, is "Humble". And as the wonderful Charlotte does die, the sadness is tempered by the promise of more spiders next spring.
The three way chats, in which they are joined by other animals, about web spinning, themselves, other humans—are as often informative as amusing, and the whole tenor of appealing wit and pathos will make fine entertainment for reading aloud, too.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1952
ISBN: 978-0-06-026385-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1952
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
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