Winch (The Old Woman Who Loved to Read, 1997, etc.) crafts sparkling illustrations for this tongue-in-cheek tale of a silver-haired senior who hears the call of the wild. Grandma bakes scrumptious-looking cakes, but feeling the need to get out more, leaves the kitchen, dragging Grandpa away from his beloved easel to search out new hobbies. Mountain climbing? Too exciting for Grandpa. Similarly: sledding, white-water canoeing, diving, and bronco-busting. Dancing? Grandpa may once have been a champion rug cutter, but he can’t keep up with the beat any more. Sailing and spelunking don’t turn out well either. In crisply detailed paintings, Winch alternates pulled-back views of misadventures in the great outdoors with finely detailed facial close-ups, depicting Grandma plunging enthusiastically into each new venture, and Grandpa soldiering unhappily behind. Though the experiment ends on a flat note, as the two return to their accustomed avocations with evident content, the wild action and a plenitude of visual jokes will keep children, and their elders, entertained. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2000
ISBN: 0-8234-1563-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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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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PLB 0-517-70967-8 Me And My Family Tree (32 pp.; $13.00; PLB $14.99; May; 0-517-70966-X; PLB 0-517-70967-8): For children who are naturally curious about the people who care for them (most make inquiries into family relationships at an early age), Sweeney explains, with the assistance of a young narrator, the concept of a family tree. Photographs become understandable once the young girl learns the relationships among family members; she wonders what her own family tree will look like when she marries and has children. A larger message comes at the end of this story: not only does she have a family tree, but so does everyone in the world. Cable’s drawings clearly define the process of creating a family tree; she provides a blank tree so children can start on their own geneaology.(Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-517-70966-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
Categories: CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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