It was off-beat off Broadway first and it comes as a surprise to find these poem-plays and happenings being listed by the publishers at the 11 to 13 age level. But it's really not such a shocking surprise, after all. There is exceptional humor here, different and fresh, visual and vital. You also have to run to get with it, and kids do manage to run better than adults. When there was a Greenwich Village vogue for this sort of production, part of the pleasure in attending was to hear the comments of the more earnest, intense members of the audience. Some of them were desperate to locate an exact, profound revelation of cosmic truth. That attitude seems as deadly as its obverse, which would dismiss the whole undertaking without recognizing its ability to entertain, stir the mind to puzzlement and finally, to influence art. Here's an example of the sort of poem play that drives commentators to take extreme positions in praise or blame: A Beautiful Day. "Girl: What a beautiful day! The Sun falls down onto the stage. End." The woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi lend a strong, happy support and follow the sun theme of the poems. The audience doesn't wait, it's in the process of being formed and the book's greatest use among youngsters will probably come from talented teachers. It should also find its way to what seems to us the most logical appreciative readership—college students with a taste and curiosity for the avant garde.
Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1965
ISBN: 0394910532
Page Count: -
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1965
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.
This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.
A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
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Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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