For someone whose idea of style even in 1959 is to change her first name and stick matching cardboard daisies on her luggage, Daisy Summerfield comes a long way in a short time. You'll like her from the start though, this wide-eyed Midwesterner whose commonest phrase is "thank you very much" though she can be icy enough to a salesman who tries to pick her up on the train. The change begins when Daisy, on her way to fashion design school in New York though she really longs to be an artist, coolly decides to switch luggage with Daphne Steven, a sandals and peasant blouse type she sees on the train reading Art and Reality and embodying for Daisy the very essence of creativity. Daisy's first move on arrival at the Buxton Hotel for Women is to withdraw from the fashion school, and a piece of walnut and some tools in Daphne's suitcase starts her out in wood carving; later she turns to clay, forming little figures depicting Astonishment, Happiness, etc., and rigged up with baby buttons and thread so that "you can move their arms as you look into their faces." During her first year in New York Daisy makes no friends and goes nowhere but the Greek luncheonette, book store and art supply shop, but her excitement in planning out her figures and getting them right, her yearning and searching for a revolving pedestal on wheels for carving in her room, her delight with her own room and her new sculpture books provide all the ups and downs we need. In the end Daphne reappears, happy with her elegant new wardrobe and with her fiance Alan Kodaly who promises enthusiastically to show Daisy's work to his gallery-owning father. It's a proper fairy tale ending, confirming for the skeptical that Daisy is an artist indeed—but by then it couldn't be dearer that the real joy is all in the getting there.
Pub Date: Aug. 13, 1978
ISBN: 0440917441
Page Count: 115
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1975
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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