Lemieux (Full Worm Moon, 1994, etc.) pens an intergenerational story of two children discovering their Scottish heritage. Jimmy and Jennie have been sent to their grandparents' farm in the Canadian Maritimes to help out for the summer. Discovering Jennie's love of music, the grandfather, ``Papa,'' teaches her to play his fiddle, as his grandmother had taught him. ``Music,'' he tells her, ``is the ribbon that ties people together. It goes on and on from generation to generation and never ends.'' The tangible symbol of this connection is the faded fiddle ribbon, woven into one continuous loop, a gift that came to him with his first fiddle. Jimmy, for his part, has been learning step-dancing, and the story ends with a festive ceilidh in the barn. The looping shape of the ribbon is worked into several of the thickly textured, impressionistic paintings, reinforcing the sense of connection between the children and their once-unfamiliar grandparents. A lovely story of children learning to cherish their family traditions. The score of a traditional jig tune is appended. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-382-39097-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
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