Reshaping a tale found in both Jacobs's More English Fairy Tales and Sawyer's The Way of the Storyteller (as she explains in an excellent note), Hodges creates a briefer, more accessible tale retaining enough of Sawyer's Irish lilt for a pleasing flavor. A generous peddler has given away so much that he's destitute. Going to bed hungry—in his cabin near Ballymena, where Saint Patrick once lived—he dreams that the saint sends him to Dublin, where ``you will hear what you were meant to hear.'' After the saint's third dream-visitation, the peddler complies and meets a Dubliner who scoffs at his own three dreams- -about a treasure back in Ballymena, where the peddler duly finds it. In Sawyer's tale, he builds a chapel for weary travelers; here, the still-generous peddler's wealth allows him to have a beautiful wife and children, but the updated conclusion doesn't really change the story's essential tenor. Johnson renders an idyllic countryside in the spirit of Constable, but the romantic landscapes don't overwhelm the story (as Thomas Locker's tend to do); rather, they make a dramatic setting for the lively, effectively characterized figures. An auspicious blend of appealing story and engaging visual interpretation. (Folklore/Picture book. 4-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-531-05489-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1993
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
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A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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