Review: Fearsome Giant, Fearless Child: A Worldwide Jack and the Beanstalk Story

Fearsome Giant, Fearless Child: A Worldwide Jack and the Beanstalk Story by Paul Fleischman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Doesn't quite live up to the delight that is Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella . I suspect that Fleischman wanted to create a boy-oriented equivalent for those who won't buy "princess" stories for boys, and as a result this tale feels a little more cobbled together than GSGS.

I was particularly thrown twice: first, when some of the "fearless child"'s siblings popped into the story apparently along for the ride instead of waiting back home for the child's triumphant return--I even checked to be sure I hadn't missed a page; and second, at the end when a princess mentioned nowhere else wishes for an inch-tall character to become average-height, implying a romantic ending that doesn't quite fit with the "child" theme.

It was also a little disappointing that "fearless child" is genderless and the introduction mentions "Molly Whuppie", but there didn't seem to be a girl child in the mix. Granted, there's no reason why most of the children pictured couldn't just as easily be boys as girls, but that does require a bit more imagination.

Paschkis's illustrations are, as always, absolutely stunning. I wish I had my copy of GSGS with me for comparison, but it looks like she again looked to the local cultures of the stories for inspiration. This works better with the versions of the stories not set in northern and central Europe, which have more distinct styles and settings than, say, England, France, Germany, and Denmark do. Perhaps true to its melting pot/tossed salad nature, the full-page spread inspired by a U.S. version of the story looks more like a mix of a couple styles than anything really distinct. I guess I should count my blessings that the page wasn't nationalistic red-white-and-blue!

A decent story and a beautiful book, but not one I feel compelled to save for my fairy tale picture book collection.

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Review: Stargazing

Stargazing by Jen Wang
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not just charming, but emotionally and socially profound without ever seeming to be so. It's astounding how many social themes Wang covers with the warm and colorful patchwork quilt of the story--like a cat rolled up underneath, unless you're looking out for them you probably won't even notice they're there until you sit on them. And sit on them you should--this is a definite read-it-twice, not just for the art but also for the nostalgic (and less-than-nostalgic) reminder of the simultaneously simple and complicated world of friendships and family relationships at the end of childhood. This book is probably a keeper for me--which is both good and bad, since my graphic novel shelf is now officially overflowing.

If This Was Our Pact and Stargazing are both nominated for Goodreads choice awards (as they should be!) I have no idea what I'm going to do!

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Review: Finding Baba Yaga

Finding Baba Yaga by Jane Yolen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Quick read for my subway ride while I figured out how to download my next book. I'm sometimes skeptical of books in verse, and the "chapters" in this one were a bit hit-or-miss for me. Most were pretty much there to move the plot along, so not a ton of introspection from the main character.

Things get more fairy-tale-like as the book progresses, though with clever ties to the modern world to ground the reader--or perhaps confuse them? It's a little too fantasy to be magical realism. I would have liked a little more about the Baba, and perhaps a few more realistic anchors in the almost full-on-fantasy climax. But still, enjoyable with some real gems in the text.

Anyway, it's such a short book that I'd recommend you take a little time to read it, if you're curious.

Quote Round-Up

p. 21) Sometimes a bad word
is punctuation to a bad day.

p. 23) Angels are always clean.
Through the bubbles I ask:
What about feather mites?

p. 48) This is a place of correspondence,
perpetual conversation,
letters written in the air.

River asks a question,
rock asks one back.
Aspen asks birch, birch asks
bracken, bracken asks earth,
earth holds all answers
tight against her breast.

p. 85) Cauldron: I just love this whole poem/chapter for subverting fairy tale tropes with modern conveniences, but also pointing out both that there are magical things in our mundane world, and that things we now consider magical may once have been mundane.

p. 103) ...both so engrossed
in looking at themselves
looking at themselves.
Strikes me as pretty relevant to our social media-obsessed culture. Just thinking about myself, aren't we always eager to see who has been looking at our posts, and aren't we then more likely to look at and respond to theirs in return? We appreciate people who appreciate us. This can be a good and important thing, but the way it's happening in the Baba's house is much like some unhealthy relationships that might form either because of social media or in young people, like Vasilisa.

p. 119) Like the piano player, I have memory
in my fingertips. I watch words spill out
creating worlds, inventing colors,
bridging generations.
...
...the memory of creation is here
in my fingers, as they hold fast
to the feather weight
of Baba Yaga's pen.

p. 125) Baba Yaga swears at objects...
... She doesn't swear at people.
That's what spells are for, she says
as she teaches me the words.
I've never heard such a good summary of my personal philosophy of swearing. It always seemed kind of stupid, to not mind swearing in most cases when it's at objects or as grammar, but to be deeply uncomfortable when swearing becomes weaponized in a specific attack. But hat's how I feel, and I guess I might not actually be alone.

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