From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 4-Morris can only see what he wants for himself when his mother takes him shopping for a present for a friend, so he selects a set of paints and heads off to Benjamin's party. After the other children give the birthday boy his gifts, Morris finds that he cannot, after all, part with the paints. But the package gets larger and larger as Morris holds it, preventing him from taking part in the festivities. Finally, when the box is about to crush him, and the other children are playing with Benjamin's new toys, Morris opens the gift and begins to paint a large self-portrait. Suddenly all the children want to participate, and they do, creating large and lovely pictures of the toys they have brought, and then painting one another. This simple and realistic tale is made fantastical by Kulikov's bizarrely sophisticated paintings. These otherwise normal children dress like old-fashioned grown-ups; have huge, mature heads; and tiny limbs-they look like puppets. Birds with human heads flit about, paint appears and disappears, and objects grow and shrink in this mad and delightful world of creative play. Youngsters will enjoy the story, take the odd perspectives in stride, and maybe even learn a thing or two about friendship and generosity. Huge fun.
Susan Oliver, Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library System, FLCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
PreS-Gr. 2. Young Morris loves to paint. So it's no surprise that, when forced to shop for his friend Benjamin's birthday present, he chooses a bright paint box. At the party, Morris won't give Benjamin the treasured present. As the guests move on to cake and games, the ribbon-tied box becomes a growing burden to Morris, who finally opens the present himself and delights the other guests with an afternoon of wild painting. Segal's clipped, brisk text has some abrupt transitions, including the ending. But the situations--a child's reluctance to hand over gifts; the quick reversals as a guest transforms from outsider to instigator--are universal. It's Kulikov's ochre-tone paintings that are really noteworthy here. In an odd, fantastical world of skewed proportions, Morris' present grows so large that it nearly crushes him--making his burdensome feelings and anxieties literal and palpable. And then there's Morris the artist, fully realized in a rakish, oversize hat and flowing scarves. An unusual, visually stimulating story about the dynamics of children's play and letting creativity loose.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
