Her Majesty, Grace Jones has grown up a bit and transferred to the Winslow S. DeForest Junior High School, but she's still her old exuberant self — outwardly a tomboy in her father's old blue serge middy, inwardly Trueblue Tom straight out of her beloved Swallows and Amazons. Grace's hero worship of Chatty Peak, president of the Girls' Leader Corps and Captain Nancy incarnate, and her pursuit of the gold ring awarded to the best all-round girl both end in disillusionment. However, she has her full share of moments of glory. Poetry strikes her like a thunderbolt, and she declaims Kubla Khan and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner with infectious gusto, while arguing a gut-level defense of free will with her heredity-environment conscious English teacher Miss Humminger. Trueblue Tom suffers an ignominious demise, beginning when Grace's first bout of real sailing ends in seasickness and sealed by her burgeoning puppy love for the music teacher Mr. Chester, and in the end Grace is a wiser, if — sadly — more feminized girl. The late '30's ambience is played to the hilt, though some of the attitudes — like Mr. Chester's distinction between Grace's hoydenish "divine discontent" and Chatty's unseemly masculinity— don't seem exactly right on today. The nostalgia, however, takes second place to Grace's spirited, sometimes giddy, enthusiasm for life which is guaranteed to bowl you over.
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1972
ISBN: 0060236868
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1972
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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