Cheng’s (Marika, 2002, etc.) warm tale of a 19th-century bookbinder’s daughter, who courageously tackles an important commission when her father is suddenly called away, gets serene, dignified illustrations from the veteran Rand (Country Kid, City Kid, 2002, etc.). The shop’s biggest customer has threatened to take his business to the industrial binder if Papa can’t finish repairing a leather-bound set in three days—and it looks like he’s going to miss that deadline when Mama goes into labor. So Anna, who has been haunting the binder’s studio for years, carefully waxes a length of string and sets to work. Though what exactly Anna does is not accurately illustrated or well-described, Rand does depict some of a binder’s equipment, and his focus on Anna’s intent face and capable hands brings out the painstaking care she takes in the work. In the end, Anna has not only her weary father’s approval, but a new baby brother and a beautifully bound volume of Aesop’s fables for her very own. The author weaves in references to “The Tortoise and the Hare” to point up differences between work done by hand and by quicker but less reliable machines—a theme that is still relevant, and adds resonance to this intimate family episode. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 15, 2003
ISBN: 0-8027-8831-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2003
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In describing how his parents met, Say continues to explore the ways that differing cultures can harmonize; raised near San Francisco and known as May everywhere except at home, where she is Masako, the child who will grow up to be Say’s mother becomes a misfit when her family moves back to Japan. Rebelling against attempts to force her into the mold of a traditional Japanese woman, she leaves for Osaka, finds work as a department store translator, and meets Joseph, a Chinese businessman who not only speaks English, but prefers tea with milk and sugar, and persuades her that “home isn’t a place or a building that’s ready-made or waiting for you, in America or anywhere else.” Painted with characteristic control and restraint, Say’s illustrations, largely portraits, begin with a sepia view of a sullen child in a kimono, gradually take on distinct, subdued color, and end with a formal shot of the smiling young couple in Western dress. A stately cousin to Ina R. Friedman’s How My Parents Learned To Eat (1984), also illustrated by Say. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90495-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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There is something profoundly elemental going on in Smalls’s book: the capturing of a moment of unmediated joy. It’s not melodramatic, but just a Saturday in which an African-American father and son immerse themselves in each other’s company when the woman of the house is away. Putting first things first, they tidy up the house, with an unheralded sense of purpose motivating their actions: “Then we clean, clean, clean the windows,/wipe, wipe, wash them right./My dad shines in the windows’ light.” When their work is done, they head for the park for some batting practice, then to the movies where the boy gets to choose between films. After a snack, they work their way homeward, racing each other, doing a dance step or two, then “Dad takes my hand and slows down./I understand, and we slow down./It’s a long, long walk./We have a quiet talk and smile.” Smalls treats the material without pretense, leaving it guileless and thus accessible to readers. Hays’s artwork is wistful and idyllic, just as this day is for one small boy. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-316-79899-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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