This beautifully illustrated collection will be useful in larger library collections and for reading aloud in Christian...
Seventeen well-known stories from the Christian Bible are retold in contemporary language accompanied by intriguing gouache illustrations.
Bostrom, a Presbyterian minister and the author of the popular Little Blessings series for younger children, retells the Biblical stories in graceful prose full of rich vocabulary, strong dialogue, and humorous touches such as words conveying sound effects. Stories from the Old Testament include retellings about the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, baby Moses in his basket, and David and Goliath. New Testament stories include the birth of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount, the Last Supper, and the first Easter. The large-size format includes three to seven pages of text for each story, with one or two full-page illustrations and several vignettes per story. Each spread offers an illustration done in Mirtalipova’s striking style, full of swirling lines and motion. The illustrations are particularly accomplished in their variety of composition, such as a parade of sea creatures swimming across the bottom of a spread or Jonah inside the belly of the whale. Throughout, the human characters all have tan or brown skin and dark hair. A final page lists the corresponding Biblical text reference for each story.
This beautifully illustrated collection will be useful in larger library collections and for reading aloud in Christian families and in church settings. (Religion. 5-9)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-84780-891-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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