Even begging the conflation of traditional folklore with The Wizard of Oz and other folkloric fantasy, readers familiar with...
Elegant figures in medieval dress give the illustrations for this revue of stock European folk-tale settings and characters (plus some modern hangers-on) a classic air.
The lavish detailing begins on the cover with a view of a pumpkin carriage nearly hidden by gnomes and pigs, a wolf in granny clothing, a golden goose and other recognizable figures. Following a title page crammed with images—including slippers both glass and ruby—thematic spreads inside map out typical fairy-tale locales. These include the populous “Great Forest,” “Right Royal Homes & Gardens,” and a busy cobbled street with a pied piper marching rats past a booted kitty (“Who is this well-dressed traveler?”) and “Geppetto’s Toy Shop” as Peter Pan soars overhead. Other spreads present galleries of cast-member types, notably a bevy of lissome princesses with heavy-lidded, come-hither looks. Along with numerous die-cut flaps and gatefolds, four inset booklets offer nonviolent versions of “Hansel and Gretel” (the witch is pushed into Hansel’s cage rather than the oven and later carted off to jail) and three other chestnuts. The bland proceedings close with a pop-up wedding scene, because “[n]o fairy-tale book would be complete without a wedding.”
Even begging the conflation of traditional folklore with The Wizard of Oz and other folkloric fantasy, readers familiar with the originals will barely recognize these coy renditions. (Pop-up nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7130-3
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent.
Published in magazines, never seen since / Now resurrected for pleasure intense / Versified episodes numbering four / Featuring Marco, and Horton and more!
All of the entries in this follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011) involve a certain amount of sharp dealing. Horton carries a Kwuggerbug through crocodile-infested waters and up a steep mountain because “a deal is a deal”—and then is cheated out of his promised share of delicious Beezlenuts. Officer Pat heads off escalating, imagined disasters on Mulberry Street by clubbing a pesky gnat. Marco (originally met on that same Mulberry Street) concocts a baroque excuse for being late to school. In the closer, a smooth-talking Grinch (not the green sort) sells a gullible Hoobub a piece of string. In a lively introduction, uber-fan Charles D. Cohen (The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss, 2002) provides publishing histories, places characters and settings in Seussian context, and offers insights into, for instance, the origin of “Grinch.” Along with predictably engaging wordplay—“He climbed. He grew dizzy. His ankles grew numb. / But he climbed and he climbed and he clum and he clum”—each tale features bright, crisply reproduced renditions of its original illustrations. Except for “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” which has been jammed into a single spread, the verses and pictures are laid out in spacious, visually appealing ways.
Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-38298-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.
Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.
Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.
An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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