From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-Itchy ears, broken mirrors, and hats worn backward join wood spirits, ghosts, and of course black cats in this imaginative exploration of common and lesser-known superstitions. The shapely poems are infused with fey intimations in keeping with the collection's theme: "It is said/salt is magic. The pure kind, sea crystals./Spilled salt is magic flung wild." Some selections are haunting, and some humorous, as in this glimpse of a vampire's downfall: "All you bloodsuckers,/this is your last chance:/I am one bite/away-/from a hunk/of Mother's famous garlic chunk chicken." Paschkis creates an exquisite backdrop for the verses. Presented on a panoramic spread, each poem and facing watercolor scene have matching frames, anchoring them as reflections of one another. Some of the borders are abstract designs, but others are suggestive of elements in the verses. For example, "Potatoes" is contained inside a lumpy oval. Adept at both storytelling and design, the illustrator places the text and picture blocks against a wonderful montage of images in tones of a single color. Children of varied ethnicities and time periods are cast in fanciful folk-art scenes. Humor, satire, subplots, historic references, and decorative and surreal elements abound in artful profusion. There is much to ponder in both words and pictures. Some of the children depicted suggest a young audience, but the mixed poetic/visual brew is sophisticated. The author includes brief comments about the featured superstitions and a note reflecting on her personal experience in this area.
Margaret Bush, Simmons College, BostonCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Gr. 2-5. The creators of
Night Garden (2000) offer another beautifully illustrated collection of poetry, this time celebrating the rituals and beliefs that make up superstitions. Children will easily recognize many of the poems' subjects: black cats, vampires and garlic, fear of ladders. But some notions are more unusual: putting potatoes in a pocket to cure arthritis. A few poems are uneven, with forced rhymes or obscure meaning: "Stand bareheaded in the rain / to cure a baldness in the brain," for example. But children will find the subjects compelling, and many of the poems have a sly humor and haunting, lyrical imagery. Paschkis' watercolors are exceptional. Wild patterns that mimic folk-art designs explode from the spreads with whimsical images that children will want to view over and over again. Filled with mystery, magic, and hidden worlds, these are poems to liven up language arts classes and to spark discussions about personal beliefs. Brief prose explanations about the superstitions close the book.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
