At the end of her sophomore year in high school Gloria is gunning fiercely for appointment as assistant editor of Wings, the high school literary magazine; the job leads automatically to the editorship in the senior year, and from there Gloria plans to go to college and become a writer despite her blue-collar mother's insistence that she get an office job instead. At the end of the book Gloria gets the editorship, but this is far from the '50s-style dream-come-true that she herself might have expected. (The story, incidentally, is set in the '40s.) First, English teacher Mrs. Home appoints Gloria co-assistant-editor with nice-guy Jerry Lieberman and invites the two of them to her country place for the summer to help care for Mrs. Horne's two children and five others. Gloria's competitiveness continues to plague her during the summer, but she does loosen up somewhat toward the children and toward Jerry; and the two teenagers grieve together over the death of the youngest child toward the end of the summer. Nevertheless the year of the co-assistant-editorship (little more than a postscript here) is a stormy one, as Gloria continues to resent Jerry's decisions and his acceptance of work she scorns; and at the end of junior year he resigns to allow her the top job. One feels a lack of cohesion and necessity overall; but Gloria is drawn with conviction, and her growing awareness of her shortcomings and tentative steps toward overcoming them are made more believable by the absence of spectacular reform.
Pub Date: April 17, 1979
ISBN: 0440977878
Page Count: 143
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1979
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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