The title of Pete Seeger’s best-known song is also the best way to view Halperin’s art; for each line of lyrics, she offers a circular painting, composed in the round and containing dozens of microscopically precise vignettes exemplifying the given idea. The whirl of human, animal, and imaginary figures makes mesmerizing viewing: “A time to die,” for instance, is bordered by multiple scenes of predators, prey, and predation in sequence; what three pigs “build up,” a huffing, puffing wolf breaks down; and dozens of children, each a distinct individual, hold hands in a great arch over the final promise. Seeger himself makes occasional appearances in the pictures, and adds a closing account of how—and why—the song came to be written. Halperin is in top form here, creating a worthy, engrossing exegesis for the timeless wisdom of Ecclesiastes. Packaged with musical arrangement, and a CD with versions of the song by Seeger and the Byrds. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-689-85235-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2003
Categories: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS | CHILDREN'S RELIGION
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Who is next in the ocean food chain? Pallotta has a surprising answer in this picture book glimpse of one curious boy. Danny, fascinated by plankton, takes his dory and rows out into the ocean, where he sees shrimp eating those plankton, fish sand eels eating shrimp, mackerel eating fish sand eels, bluefish chasing mackerel, tuna after bluefish, and killer whales after tuna. When an enormous humpbacked whale arrives on the scene, Danny’s dory tips over and he has to swim for a large rock or become—he worries’someone’s lunch. Surreal acrylic illustrations in vivid blues and red extend the story of a small boy, a small boat, and a vast ocean, in which the laws of the food chain are paramount. That the boy has been bathtub-bound during this entire imaginative foray doesn’t diminish the suspense, and the facts Pallotta presents are solidly researched. A charming fish tale about the one—the boy—that got away. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-075-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For his eponymous imprint, the New York Yankees star leads off with a self-referential tale of Little League triumphs.
In the first of a projected 10 episodes based on the same number of “Life Lessons” espoused by the lead author’s Turn 2 Foundation, third-grader Derek turns in an essay announcing that his dream is to play shortstop for the New York Yankees (No. 1 on the Turn 2 list: “Set your goals high”). His parents take him seriously enough not only to present him with a “contract” that promises rewards for behaviors like working hard and avoiding alcohol and drugs, but also to put a flea in the ear of his teacher after she gives him a B-minus on the essay for being unrealistic. Derek then goes on to pull up his math grade. He also proceeds to pull off brilliant plays for his new Little League team despite finding himself stuck at second base while the coach’s son makes multiple bad decisions at shortstop and, worse, publicly puts down other team members. Jeter serves as his own best example of the chosen theme’s theoretical validity, but as he never acknowledges that making the majors (in any sport) requires uncommon physical talent as well as ambition and determination, this values-driven pitch is well out of the strike zone.
Plenty of baseball action, but the paint-by-numbers plot is just a vehicle for equally standard-issue advice. . (foundation ad and curriculum guide, not seen) (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2312-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Jeter/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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