Suspenseful, with captivating illustrations.
A delightfully spooky picture-book rendering of the famed Jersey Devil legend.
From a state rife with disreputable characters, Noble here depicts perhaps its most otherworldly resident, the Jersey Devil, whose existence dates back to colonial folklore of 1735. On an archetypally dark and stormy night in the remote Pine Barrens, a coastal region distinguished by “black swamps and murky bogs” fed by brackish water, as Mother Leeds is in labor with her 13th child, she curses, “Oh let it be a devil!” With requisite lightning and thunderclap, she gets her wish: A monstrous creature—with a horse’s head, horns, bat wings, cloven hooves, forked tail and glowing eyes, and capable of breathing fire—is born, destined by its parenting and chimeric looks to become an outcast. Kelley’s arresting watercolors heighten the ghoulish drama, with vivid facial expressions and atmospheric tendrils of lightning and mist. From a callous mother who doesn’t want her child and a town that reviles difference to a scheming preacher, businessmen and bounty hunters looking to profit from a freak of nature, Noble’s mythological subject must struggle to overcome humanity at its worst, blending psychology with the stuff of ghastly legend. Overcome it he does, eventually winning the hearts of the people of the Pine Barrens, who adopt him for their own.
Suspenseful, with captivating illustrations. (Picture book/folktale. 6-10)Pub Date: July 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58536-837-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Warp back in time for a prehistoric spinoff adventure with Geronimo Stilton’s ancestor, Geronimo Stiltonoot, in Old Mouse City.
Readers will find Geronimo Stiltonoot a familiar character, outfitted differently from descendant Stilton yet still running a newspaper and having wild adventures. In this introduction to prehistoric mouse life, someone has stolen the most powerful and important artifact housed by the Old Mouse City Mouseum: the Stone of Fire. It’s up to Stiltonoot and his fellow sleuth and friend, Hercule Poirat, to uncover not only the theft, but a dangerous plot that jeopardizes all of Old Mouse City. As stand-ins for the rest of the Stilton cast, Stiltonoot has in common with Stilton a cousin named Trap, a sister named Thea and a nephew named Benjamin. The slapstick comedy and design, busy with type changes and color, will be familiar for Stilton readers. The world is fictionalized for comedic effect, featuring funny uses for dinosaurs and cheeky references to how far back in time they are, with only the occasional sidebar that presents facts. The story takes a bit long to get started, spending a lot of time reiterating the worldbuilding information laid out before the first chapter. But once it does start, it is an adventure Stilton readers will enjoy. Geronimo Stiltonoot has the right combination of familiarity and newness to satisfy Stilton fans. (Fiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-44774-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2012
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965) upgrades to The Mice and the Rolls-Royce.
In Windsor Castle there sits a “dollhouse like no other,” replete with working plumbing, electricity, and even a full library of real, tiny books. Called Queen Mary’s Dollhouse, it also plays host to the Whiskers family, a clan of mice that has maintained the house for generations. Henry Whiskers and his cousin Jeremy get up to the usual high jinks young mice get up to, but when Henry’s little sister Isabel goes missing at the same time that the humans decide to clean the house up, the usually bookish big brother goes on the adventure of his life. Now Henry is driving cars, avoiding cats, escaping rats, and all before the upcoming mouse Masquerade. Like an extended version of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), Priebe keeps this short chapter book constantly moving, with Duncan’s peppy art a cute capper. Oddly, the dollhouse itself plays only the smallest of roles in this story, and no factual information on the real Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is included at the tale’s end (an opportunity lost).
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales. (Fantasy. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6575-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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