While enjoyable to browse, these doll instructions are most likely to thwart all but the most determined of crafters.
A guidebook to making simple dolls and accessories sounds like a fine idea, as long as the supplies are readily available and the crafts are reasonably achievable.
This effort excels at offering crafts that require inexpensive supplies that many young crafters might have access to, including old T-shirts, bits and pieces of felt, inexpensive paints, buttons, needles, and thread. The skills required to create the various dolls, small stuffed animals, doll clothing, and houses vary widely. Some of the crafts involve little more than wrapping yarn around pipe cleaners and adding a bead head. Other crafts, such as a simple-appearing stuffed “puppy dog”; a button-up coat; a painted cloth doll that must be stitched, turned right side out, and stuffed; and doll shoes with craft-foam soles and stitched-on felt tops, involve a considerable amount of careful sewing. Lists of supplies for each project are included, and patterns and directions are clear, but few of the projects state the skill level needed. Some do include the caveat “Adult supervision needed.” The variety is wide, including a voodoo doll, a zombie, a pocket gnome, and gingerbread cookies. Sidebars offer additional information on the history of dolls and their places in some cultures.
While enjoyable to browse, these doll instructions are most likely to thwart all but the most determined of crafters. (Nonfiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61373-778-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote...
Two republished tales by a Greco-Cherokee author feature both folkloric and modern elements as well as new illustrations.
One of the two has never been offered south of the (Canadian) border. In “Coyote Sings to the Moon,” the doo-wop hymn sung nightly by Old Woman and all the animals except tone-deaf Coyote isn’t enough to keep Moon from hiding out at the bottom of the lake—until she is finally driven forth by Coyote’s awful wailing. She has been trying to return to the lake ever since, but that piercing howl keeps her in the sky. In “Coyote’s New Suit” he is schooled in trickery by Raven, who convinces him to steal the pelts of all the other animals while they’re bathing, sends the bare animals to take clothes from the humans’ clothesline, and then sets the stage for a ruckus by suggesting that Coyote could make space in his overcrowded closet by having a yard sale. No violence ensues, but from then to now humans and animals have not spoken to one another. In Eggenschwiler’s monochrome scenes Coyote and the rest stand on hind legs and (when stripped bare) sport human limbs. Old Woman might be Native American; the only other completely human figure is a pale-skinned girl.
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote tales. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55498-833-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Similar to the vignettes found in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this book’s sentimental collection can’t help but...
Intended for ages 9-12, this collection of 10 true vignettes elucidate the bucket-filling philosophy of being a helpful and caring person.
There is a simple philosophy behind bucket filling. As Lundgren writes in her introduction, “We each have an invisible bucket. When it is full, we feel good—happy, peaceful, grateful, or loving. When it is empty, we feel bad—sad, lonely, angry, and frightened.” Ultimately, we must decide whether to be selfless “bucketfillers” or selfish “bucketdippers,” and through a series of short and sweet anecdotes, the book pushes the idea that it is far better to fill than to dip. The stories focus on regular folks who choose to be a positive force for others in small ways. There is the mom who picks up a gallon of gas for the new family at church and relates her story to the police officer who stops her for speeding. Hearing her story, the officer lets the woman go with only a warning—filling the woman’s bucket rather than dipping into it by issuing a ticket on Christmas Eve. Another vignette tells of a ballet dancer reminiscing about the high school teacher who not only allowed her to find solace in dance during the darkest days of her parents’ divorce, but was there with an extra hug when needed. While the stories are often overtly sentimental (seemingly cut from the same cloth as a Hallmark card commercial), each effectively demonstrates that it is just as easy to do good in this world as it is to do ill or nothing. All of the tales culminate with a set of discussion questions that allow the reader to bring her own insight into what she has just read; perfect for a classroom setting. This trains the reader to get into the proper mind-set to use the bucket-filling philosophy in her own life. Despite the book’s slight feel (10 stories in just over 100 pages), the reader will be left hard pressed not to fill more buckets in her life.
Similar to the vignettes found in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, this book’s sentimental collection can’t help but warm your heart.Pub Date: April 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0984336609
Page Count: 110
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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