A poetic tribute to the sustaining power of the Black Church. Free verse celebrates the institution in its many incarnations from its beginnings on the plantations (when “she was / invisible . . . / her roof nightsky, / her flooring Godgrown pastures walled by woods . . . ”) and emphasizing the leaders and artists it has nurtured. Bolden’s (And Not Afraid to Dare, 1998) language is frequently labored, employing an unfortunate inverted syntax—“Multitudes she has mothered / in times of dense distress . . . ” and “wasn’t it she who raised in singles / and change much money”—that can stop readers in their tracks in order to decipher the meaning. Nevertheless, the work retains a heartfelt passion for its subject that is genuinely inspiring: “When we were the not-alloweds / and go-to-the-back-door people, / she was a warm place to be. . . . ” Christie’s (DeShawn Days, p. 868) bright, primitive-looking illustrations are bursting with expressive energy: on one page an old woman stares out through her glasses, challenging the reader to pity her; on another, members of a congregation raise their hands in glad chorus. Notes on the historical events or personages alluded to in the poem appear at the end with thumbnails of the relevant illustrations; an author’s note explains the genesis of the poem itself. Although somewhat ungainly at times, it’s ultimately moving. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2001
ISBN: 0-679-89485-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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