The curtain opens to the moving-in bustle and grumbling of four children and the old "Auntie" who has raised them and whom they are now protecting from being "sent away" as a consequence of her klepto- and pyromaniacal excursions. The family has rented a cottage on the remote Winter Island, which (they now learn from Mrs. MacRoy, the black-shrouded old granny who ferries them over) is reputed to vanish in darkness every seven years. During the six years that elapse before the next disappearance is due, no one seems to age — except for Sedna, a new baby Auntie picks up on the island, causing the others to suspect (correctly) that they too have been snitched, nor orphaned as Auntie had claimed. Then Sedna vanishes, to reappear as the old ferry womman who is now revealed as the goddess of winter. Two of the children, concerned only with themselves, are killed (offstage) trying to escape the island, but Mrs. MacRoy assures the others that the coming darkness will bring them truth and vision and will maybe even "unriddle some great secret for mankind." Joan Aiken is of course an expert at manipulating ominous vibrations which can be expected to thrill both actors and audience. But almost the whole play seems to be setting the scene for a hair-raising finale which Aiken then rejects in favor of Mrs. MacRoy's vague pseudo-profundities. However lulling her message might be for our time, it's a disappointment that this pastmistress of melodramatic novels has come up with so undramatic a play.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1972
ISBN: 0030919568
Page Count: 79
Publisher: Holt Rinehart & Winston
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1972
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.
This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.
A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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