Without a doubt, one of the oddest monuments of Europe is the statue of the Manneken Pis (“Peeing Boy”) in Brussels; here he stars in a decidedly odd original anti-war fable. The story is simple: long ago in a beautiful town lived a little boy with his doting parents. Life is wonderful until unnamed enemies (armored green men with long tongues and lots of teeth) lay siege. In the confusion, the little boy becomes separated from his parents, and goes up onto the town wall to find them. “Poor little boy, he was scared. He needed his mother and father. But more than that he needed . . . / to pee.” So, spectacularly, he urinates on the combatants. At first struck dumb by the golden stream, everyone then begins to laugh and the war ends. The appealingly childlike illustrations depict soft-edged, rather blobby people in vaguely medieval dress. The emotional track of the story is charted by the happy pastels and flowers that are replaced by black backgrounds, cannon, and chaotic compositions—to be replaced again by flowers at the end. The text is ingenuous in the extreme, avoiding any real analysis of the conflict or its source—“Maybe they were jealous that the town was so beautiful”—which is entirely in step with a child’s level of comprehension of such large-scale violence. The brilliantly illogical simplicity of its resolution is also directly in tune with small children and their fascination with all things potty—much as it may take their parents aback. It is hard to imagine anyone being able to pull this very odd offering off—but Radunsky (Table Manners, 2001, etc.) manages to do just that. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-83193-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
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
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children.
On hot summer nights, Amani’s parents permit her to go outside and play in the apartment courtyard, where the breeze is cool and her friends are waiting.
The children jump rope to the sounds of music as it floats through a neighbor’s window, gaze at stars in the night sky, and play hide-and-seek in the moonlight. It is in the moonlight that Amani and her friends are themselves found by the moon, and it illumines the many shades of their skin, which vary from light tan to deep brown. In a world where darkness often evokes ideas of evil or fear, this book is a celebration of things that are dark and beautiful—like a child’s dark skin and the night in which she plays. The lines “Show everyone else how to embrace the night like you. Teach them how to be a night-owning girl like you” are as much an appeal for her to love and appreciate her dark skin as they are the exhortation for Amani to enjoy the night. There is a sense of security that flows throughout this book. The courtyard is safe and homelike. The moon, like an additional parent, seems to be watching the children from the sky. The charming full-bleed illustrations, done in washes of mostly deep blues and greens, make this a wonderful bedtime story.
Vital messages of self-love for darker-skinned children. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55271-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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