Elusive.
"I'm a streak of light! I'm a trick-maker! I'm Jahdu just running through!"
This free self-description is the first suggestion we get of Jahdu's identity, and it occurs after pages of Jahdu running along, shaking off his "Jahdu dust" anti gathering it back into himself; trying to put a "wing-low bird" to sleep and then trying to change into the child Lee Edward but failing in both attempts because, as both bird and boy tell him, "you have lost something and you don't know it"). Jahdu himself is absent from the pictures, and beginning readers who have not encountered him in Hamilton's previous stories will have a hard time forming any picture of her elusive figment. Those who stick with the story will be treated to some rich and snappy dialogue between Jahdu and his shadow, and some highly imaginative, playfully mythic doings off beyond the horizon. There Jahdu confronts the pesky CIGAM, which turns out to be his own magic, spelled backwards and wrapped around his rebellious shadow. The adventure is related with a spellbinding profusion of imagery, rhythm, and impish exuberance, which makes it well worth trying. In the realms to which Hamilton transports them, children might miss the orienting presence of a companion that can be either seen (to the end, we glimpse only Jahdu's shadow and a pair of sandaled feet), defined (is he an imaginary boy, a spirit, or what?), or traced somewhere (there's no storytelling Mama Luka here, no background on the passing Lee Edwards).
Elusive.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 1980
ISBN: 068880246X
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1980
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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