A beautiful retelling that may well daunt readers accustomed to the far shorter picture-book texts of today
Lush, intricate oil paintings distinguish this retelling of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s 18th-century version of the familiar fairy tale.
While the Beast is present, lurking behind Beauty, on the jacket, the intricately detailed paintings do far more to emphasize beauty than beastliness. Almost each recto holds an illustration, laden with decorative embellishments in setting, characters’ dress, and the material culture of the setting, while the facing versos are text-heavy with Mahlon Craft’s retelling, which is laid out with ornate historiated initials. Exceptions to this design arise at full, wordless double-page spreads punctuating the verbal narration at key points in the tale: when Beauty first rides to Beast’s castle; when she enjoys the splendors there; when she cradles the near-dead Beast in her arms. These moments highlight Beauty as the protagonist even though Beast is the one who transforms at book’s end, when his blond, rosy appearance confirms an all-white cast of characters. Indeed, apart from his jacket appearance, he appears in beast form only three times. This speaks to a pacing problem in the book: lengthy blocks of text covering lots of narrative ground seem at odds with the finite moments depicted in the facing illustrations. While the gorgeous intricacy of the illustrations invites poring over, readers may miss details from the text that are excluded from the art.
A beautiful retelling that may well daunt readers accustomed to the far shorter picture-book texts of today . (Picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-053919-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit.
Eleven-year-old Maria Russo helps her charlatan mother hoodwink customers, but Maria has a spirited secret.
Maria’s mother, the psychic Madame Destine, cons widows out of their valuables with the assistance of their apartment building’s super, Mr. Fox. Madame Destine home-schools Maria, and because Destine is afraid of unwanted attention, she forbids Maria from talking to others. Maria is allowed to go to the library, where new librarian Ms. Madigan takes an interest in Maria that may cause her trouble. Meanwhile, Sebastian, Maria’s new upstairs neighbor, would like to be friends. All this interaction makes it hard for Maria to keep her secret: that she is visited by Edward, a spirit who tells her the actual secrets of Madame Destine’s clients via spirit writing. When Edward urges Maria to help Mrs. Fisher, Madame Destine’s most recent mark, Maria must overcome her shyness and her fear of her mother—helping Mrs. Fisher may be the key to the mysterious past Maria uncovers and a brighter future. Alas, picture-book–creator Ford’s middle-grade debut is a muddled, melodramatic mystery with something of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel: In addition to the premise, there’s a tragically dead father, a mysterious family tree, and the Beat poets. Sluggish pacing; stilted, unrealistic dialogue; cartoonishly stock characters; and unattractive, flat illustrations make this one to miss. Maria and Sebastian are both depicted with brown skin, hers lighter than his; the other principals appear to be white.
An effort as insubstantial as any spirit. (author’s note) (Paranormal mystery. 7-10)Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-20567-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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