Once again the great story is told: Merlin prophesies; Arthur pulls one sword from a stone and receives another from the Lady of the Lake; the knights disperse to seek the Grail; Arthur falls to Mordred's spear and is borne to Avalon. Women's roles are particularly equivocal here: Guinevere is good but weak (``Arthur was a great king...but he was not a great lover as Lancelot was''); Morgan Le Fay is evil but steadfast in carrying out her vow to avenge her father's death; Tristram is killed not by King Mark but by his own wife's jealousy; Elaine's dying wish is that her corpse be used to inflame Lancelot with guilt. Perham's style is formal and distant, emphasizing chivalrous behavior and courtly graces. Grand knights have at one another in Heller's color illustrations, while misty pencil drawings add magic and, sometimes, feeling to other scenes. Browsers may enjoy the dramatic pictures, but the book is uncomfortably designed—heavy in the hand, with tiny type on coated paper. Not a significant improvement on Riordan's Tales of King Arthur (1982) or other standard renditions. (Folklore. 14+)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-670-84990-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
Pitamic bites off more than she can chew with this instructional art volume, but its core projects will excite in the right context. Twelve pieces of fine art inspire two art projects apiece. Matisse’s The Snail opens the Color section; after history and analysis, there’s one project arranging multicolored tissue-paper squares and one project adding hue to white paint to create stripes of value gradation. These creative endeavors exploring value, shade, texture and various media will exhilarate young artists—but only with at best semi-successful results, as they require an adult dedicated to both advance material procurement and doing the artwork along with the child. Otherwise, complex instructions plus a frequent requirement to draw or trace realistically will cause frustration. Much of the text is above children’s heads, errors of terminology and reproduction detract and the links between the famous pieces and the projects are imprecise. However, an involved adult and an enterprising child aged seven to ten will find many of the projects fabulously challenging and rewarding. Art In Action 2 (ISBN: 978-0-7641-441-7) publishes simultaneously. (artist biographies, glossary, location of originals) (Nonfiction. Adults)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7641-4440-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Barron's
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2010
American citizens have been held hostage in the Middle East at least since 1979, when our embassy in Teheran was seized by a mob; Lawson's history of the US government's response in the 80's makes a sad tale of hypocrisy, incompetence, and corruption. He shows how, after the hostage crisis cost Carter his political career, Reagan allowed a series of profitable arms-for-hostages deals to go through—while publicly condemning the idea—to finance his ``pet anti-communist project.'' The ensuing revelations, investigations, and trials are covered here in some detail. In an epilogue, Lawson notes that a new group of hostages were taken when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990. A thematic introduction by Arthur L. Liman, an attorney involved in the Senate Iran-contra investigation, sums it up: Reagan's advisors, acting from ``disrespect, bordering on contempt'' for the Constitution, established a ``secret government within the Government'' for specifically illegal purposes. B&w photos; adequate bibliography; long chronology; excellent notes; chart listing hostages taken in the 80's; index. (Nonfiction. YA)
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-531-11009-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991
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