GIFT OF THE MAGPIE's first review, and it's a doozie! KIRKUS Review
GIFT OF THE MAGPIE
Author: Mason, Janeen
Illustrator: Mason, Janeen
Review Date: January 1, 2011
Publisher:Pelican
Pages: 32
Price ( Hardcover ): $16.99
Publication Date: January 1, 2011
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 978-1-58980-861-4
Category: Picture Books
Regina is a shoe-obsessed magpie. Max is into Regina, a smitten magpie. Max figures if he finds the right shoe, it will seal their fate together. He tenders a flip-flop. “That was funny, Max. What would I do with a shoe?” Ho ho, but no deal. Max next tries an old basketball sneaker. “The silence was deafening.” Regina, mortified, flees. Max, heartbroken, joins another flock. But that winter, in the gloom and cold, Regina takes to the hi-top, a cozy retreat. Come spring and the return of Max—voila, magpies in heaven. Mason has pulled a double out of her hat. The text is uncomplicated but sophisticated and poignant: Of the spurned sneaker, “ ‘It was the biggest shoe in the whole dump,’ he pleaded in a whisper.” And the artwork is an impressive display, as riotously colorful as a bowl of jelly beans, the lush two-page spreads shot through with the trills of the other magpies’ less fetishistic finds: huckleberries, sweet peas, sunflowers and grasshoppers. But they don’t hold a candle to Regina's magpie-enhanced sneaker for two. (Picture book. 5-9)
Congratulations Janeen, Great review by Kirkus! I know your artwork is amazing, can't wait to get your new book. The story sounds like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteWow! Great review Janeen...and by Kirkus no less- in whom I invest great respect! Your art in the book looks stunning and I WANT a copy of Ocean Commotion. It is on order!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cathy! Thanks Stephen! For your comments and your enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteMagpies are a big deal here on the Himalayas. The yellow-billed magpie is spectacular as it swoops through the fields and apple orchards, almost seeming to skip as it flies, with its long striped tail trailing behind.
ReplyDeleteWahooooo!!! I look forward to seeing it myself! :) e
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