Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 27, 1994 TAG: 9403200179
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by PEGGY C. DAVIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Will has a smart mama. She insists that Will get a haircut but then she allows him to have a part in the plan. This is a very simple story with clear and amusing illustrations that have more to say to parents than to child. Every barber shop should have a copy.
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He's Your Dog. By Pat Schories. Farrar, Straus, Giroux. No ages given. $15.
This is a familiar story with a nice twist. The dog is frisky, does not obey, eats shoes and so is threatened with removal from the family. The boy takes his dog and runs away _ at least in his mind. But what works best is training. The soft colored pictures are a major part of the story so that the few words will make this book a favorite with the restless set. Boys and dogs go together and this book should go along too.
\ Dribbles. By Connie Heckert. Illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles. Clarion Books. Ages 5-7. $14.95.
Cats are in. They can be affectionate, trouble, sour and sweet. Any family that has added a new cat when there are cats already in residence knows the trouble Dribbles is going to have when he moves with the old man to a new place. Heckert has interwoven a lovely story about life, changes in living arrangements and death without being maudlin. The illustrations are especially pleasing and are a successful compliment and complement to the story. This is such a natural story that children can enjoy it in its simplest terms or find comfort when there is a death in the family - animal or human.
\ The Butterfly Boy. By Laurence Yep. Pictures by Jeanne M. Lee. Farrar, Straus, Giroux. No age given. $15.
The afterword explains that this story and images are drawn from the writings of Chuang Tzu, sometimes called the Butterfly Philosopher, who lived in China during the troubled times at the end of the fourth century B.C. "There once was a boy who dreamed he was a butterfly, and, as a butterfly, he always dreamed he was a boy, and he was never sure which he liked better." The basis of the book is all in the title but the story is much deeper. The illustrations are in rich primary colors and earth tones that have a power of their own. Westerners may never truly understand eastern thinking but "The Butterfly Boy" is a first step. We all know that youngsters understand things better than adults, anyway.
\ Suddenly One Day. By Siv Widerberg and Anna Walfridson. Translated by Tina Nunnally. R&S Books. No ages given. $13.
This is a strange little story with lots of nice silences for the youngsters to figure out on their own. Suddenly one day there he was, the silent boy who was different. The narrator is a girl and she risks smiles and smirks because she knows her place is next to him. If you have a predisposition to understanding Scandanavian thinking, this little book with the stoical expressions on the illustrations will reinforce those ideas.
\ The Night the Moon Came By. By Hans Alfredson and Per Ahlin. Translated by Tina Nunnally. R&S Books. No ages given. $13.
This is a story about Nightlings, those creaks and groans, unexplained noises that go thump in the night. But what makes the story work is the cat - a cat to the rescue that stayed up in the attic to play with the Nightlings even though they didn't exist. Children should enjoy this book of familiar frights with unusual and lively pictures in soft night colors. There is the addition of a vagabond that could give rise to thoughts about the homeless folk. What will the next generation do?
\ Peggy C. Davis reviews books regularly for this page.
by CNB