Steven Spielberg meets Lewis Carroll via Jimmy Page in this latest opus from the irrepressible Base (The Discovery of Dragons, 1998, etc.). Young Sprocc from the planet Blipp can’t help himself; he takes up his Splingtwanger, turns the volume up to ten and plays a new tune, even though it is forbidden. For this he’s banished, and hooks up with a underground group competing in the Worst Band contest. They win, but it’s a trick, and they are sent to Wastedump B19 where the great PowerAxe wielder Skat, bitter and cynical, resides. They escape on a music-powered spacecraft, save Blipp from destruction and free the music (with Skat’s help). The story is told in the most amazing verse, complete with descriptions of a bad guy “grobulous with rage,” and a place where “All reggoid beats prohibited. No rok, no phfunk, no jyve.” Base’s extraordinary sense of detail and his riot of color are taken to a new dimension here, in almost indescribable scenes of SF mayhem. He thoughtfully includes not only a list of characters but a CD of the music. Reading this one aloud may lead to riotous story hours. (Picture book. 6-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8109-3998-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
PLB 0-688-13166-2 King Midas And The Golden Touch ($16.00; PLB $15.63; Apr.; 32 pp.; 0-688-13165-4; PLB 0-688-13166-2): The familiar tale of King Midas gets the golden touch in the hands of Craft and Craft (Cupid and Psyche, 1996). The author takes her inspiration from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s retelling, capturing the essence of the tale with the use of pithy dialogue and colorful description. Enchanting in their own right, the illustrations summon the Middle Ages as a setting, and incorporate colors so lavish that when they are lost to the uniform gold spurred by King Midas’s touch, the point of the story is further burnished. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-688-13165-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Lunge-Larsen and Preus debut with this story of a flower that blooms for the first time to commemorate the uncommon courage of a girl who saves her people from illness. The girl, an Ojibwe of the northern woodlands, knows she must journey to the next village to get the healing herb, mash-ki- ki, for her people, who have all fallen ill. After lining her moccasins with rabbit fur, she braves a raging snowstorm and crosses a dark frozen lake to reach the village. Then, rather than wait for morning, she sets out for home while the villagers sleep. When she loses her moccasins in the deep snow, her bare feet are cut by icy shards, and bleed with every step until she reaches her home. The next spring beautiful lady slippers bloom from the place where her moccasins were lost, and from every spot her injured feet touched. Drawing on Ojibwe sources, the authors of this fluid retelling have peppered the tale with native words and have used traditional elements, e.g., giving voice to the forces of nature. The accompanying watercolors, with flowing lines, jewel tones, and decorative motifs, give stately credence to the story’s iconic aspects. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90512-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
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