Deborah Nourse LattimoreCritiques

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It makes me happy that this book exists, and the marginal illustrations, the author's tribute to the glory of the Book of Kells, make me even happier. When you dig a little deeper, unfortunately the story is a little bit silly. The Three Brothers theme is okay. The Good Deed Rewarded theme is okay. A bit more meticulous detail about the meticulous detail that created the Book of Kells would have been nice; I'm sure the author would be up to describing the preparation of parchment, the creation of ink and colour, and the process of transcribing the text and decorating the page. But the inanity of the monks' supposed motivation is beyond belief: "According to an ancient law," explains the scribe, "once the Book is completed, no one, not an Irish king nor a Viking lord, can attack us again." Other than the law of gravity and its like, there was no law to which the Vikings subscribed that was not part of their own oral tradition, and certainly no Christian law would deter them from the prospect of loot. Christian kings weren't that much better, although moral suasion could be exerted on them; but the existence of a particular book of Gospels would never be the deciding factor. Think of Henry VIII despoiling the monasteries some hundreds of years later: the king WAS the law. This ridiculous idea was enough to make me unable to enjoy the book as much as it probably deserves. And the brothers never get together again in the story, which is a pity.½

This was a favourite picture book of mine back in my childhood. I remember walking to the library frequently after school and never failing to pull this one off the shelf for yet another re-read. The story is so funny and entertaining that I never got tired of it, and I was absolutely entranced by the wonderfully detailed artwork that helped to illustrate the absurdity of the tale.

Madame Pompenstance decides to decorate her hair with seashells in a desperate attempt to win the prize for the Best Headdress at the Fancy Dress Ball, but she doesn't notice the ship that sails onto her head when she bends down to gather shells at the beach . “Lattimore has crafted exquisite, historically accurate illustrations that will provide as much mirth as her tongue-in-cheek tale.

An untidy witch named Hazel discovers that Prince Alarming likes dirt as much as she does.

The great spirit of the rain dragon is angry. Two greedy lords have dishonored the dragon shrine, keeping for themselves the precious offerings meant for the god. Now great evil begins to plague the land, and the only hope of peace rests in the hands of a humble weaver. Full color.

Attractive as this text is, as a picture book it is pretty opaque; it confuses rather than illuminates Egyptian mythology for the young reader (the target audience).

The narrative premise is this: a young girl and a greedy high priest are ordered by the pharaoh to make a journey to the underworld to determine who is telling the truth about the death of a cat. The girl, Merit, is able to pass through the twelve gates by "reading", but what, exactly, she is reading is not clear. Several gods are alluded to, but their roles and domains are not clarified in the text, nor is there any explanation about the "ushabtis" (funerary figures) woven into the narrative.

In most introductory texts about Ancient Egypt, Ra is typically identified as the sun god; in "The Winged Cat", however, Horus is confusingly named in that role. In light of these details, I believe that only someone with a good knowledge of Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, especially about the afterlife and the complex and overlapping pantheon of Egyptian deities, would find the book accessible. If it is used in the classroom, I'd recommend it for upper middle school. It's not suitable for the younger set of kids that I had in mind to read it to. Not recommended.

At a time of imminent war Two Flint is dedicated to bringing peace to the town in Mexico. He goes on a journey to find Lord Morning Star, the only one who can bring peace between two enemy people. On his journey evil demons such as Lord Volcano and Earthquake try to stop him but they are no math as Two Flint out wits them all. He successfully find Lord Morning star and peace is brought among the people, ensuring safety for all.

A "must read" for Halloween, Cinderhazel is definitely a "mash-up" conglomeration of a number of great traditional fairy tale themes. There is poor Cinderhazel trapped by her mean stepmother, a real witch! But so is Cinderhazel. Cinderhazel is trying to get to the Halloween Ball to meet Prince Alarming. But will Prince Alarming accept Cindehazel"s peculiar affection for dirt? "Just then, the biggest dirtball Cinderhazel had ever seen walked up.."
The entrance of Prince Alarming is just one of the great and hilarious illustrations by the author, Deborah Nourse Lattimore.

I found this story difficult to get drawn into, despite it having an interesting story about loss and fighting for peace. I did like how wise Two Flint seemed to be and how he fought for peace without using any violence, which I think is important. The thing that I did enjoy about this book was the illustrations because they represent Aztec art very well.

This book is an alternative take on the original Cinderella story. It is almost opposite of the original story in the sense of changing the familiar version of the princess, known as a beautiful woman afraid of looking dirty, to alternatively being a witch that loves to be dirty and dress in rags. Despite the difference in characters and setting, the story was a bit too familiar for me to really enjoy it thoroughly. I do love the fact that this story is very comfortable with messiness and being dirty. As a kid, I loved to indulge in becoming a filthy mess. So I think I would have enjoyed this version of cinderella more as a kid. Despite the overbearing familiarity, I still thought the illustrations were fun and enjoyable. The illustrations definitely do well in capturing the dirty, messy feeling of the story. At the end of the book, it says the Prince gives Cinerhazel grass clippers instead of glass slippers. Yet, I am still struggling to understand the relevance of the grass clippers other than the fact that it rhymes with glass slippers.

This tale consists of a story of the Aztec people struggling to maintain peace. After his father is murdered, Two Flint outsmarts a series of Gods in order to acquire the New Flame of peace that his father had once told him about. Eventually Two Flint makes it back to his people and ends the fighting between the Itzcoatl and Tezozomoc warriors. It is then said that their was many decades of peace that followed this event. I loved how this story was a fight for peace. I also loved the fact that the main character was incredibly wise in the way he achieves this peace. Two Flint was able to achieve this without any violence whatsoever. The art work in this book was fantastic. I am only vaguely familiar with Aztec art, but it is clear to see from the illustrations that this artistic style/culture was represented well in this book. The illustrations were beautifully authentic and definitely enriched the book as a whole.

Pretty much the same as the original Cinderella, but this Cinderella likes dirt. I don't think this would be a good book if you want kids to clean or help around the classroom or home. But a good book to read to kids around Halloween.

This short chapter book is a small collection of three Celtic tales, including The Sailor Who Captured the Sea. Why the Fairy Folk Cannot Rule Scotland, and The Black Knight of Tintagel. These stories are about a young boy struggling to finish a manuscript, a Scottish king tricking the Fairie Queen to save his sons, and the ending of a ghost, a knight, and a woman named Morgenna.
These folktale stories show classic themes in traditional folklore, including working to finish a task and tricking a magical being. These tales have been passed down for hundreds of years and have no known author.
I would use a book like this in my classroom to introduce early chapter books, discuss themes and messages of stories, or to discuss similar events in the stories.
I think the media used for the cover is acrylic.

A story about how being vain can ultimately cause your own downfall. After being in a relationship with Poseidon, Medusa thinks herself equal to a goddess. This angers Athena resulting in her to cast a curse on Medusa. Medusa is stripped from her beauty and instead turned into a monster. Her once blonde hair becomes filled with snakes and her eyes turn anyone that looks at her into stone. This section leaves the message that women should not take so much pride in themselves, which I think test a little on femininity. The story then shifts to talk about Perseus who, in order to save his mother, must kill Medusa. In this interesting myth, readers get to see Perseus through his life and how he came to be the honored son of Zeus. Only downside to this book would be the fact that it does not put as much emphasis on Medusa as it should, but rather focuses on telling the tale of how Perseus came to be. A good introduction for students learning about Greek mythology.

Madame Pompenstance never wins Best Headdress at the Fancy Dress Ball no matter what she does! This year will be much different, even though she does not know it. After thinking and thinking about her idea for the ball, Madame Pompenstance decides that the best thing she can do is to take a walk to the beach. While she is there, she adds a few seashells to her hair. While not realizing, she also takes a small ship with her on her head. Throughout the day, she does not know this is atop her head. She goes through the day and the festivities of the day thinking that she only has small seashells in her hair. That night at the ball she enters thinking that she has officially lost the competition because she only went with a few seashells. Little does she know that she still has the ship on her head! After winning the contest and not really knowing she won, she runs away back to the beach. When she arrives back at the beach, she loses both the ship and the seashells that were in her hair. Madame Pompenstance never even saw the ship that had mad an appearance! This was quite a cute little book. I thought it was funny, cute, and simple. I really enjoyed the illustration! I think that if the illustration had not been what it was, then I would not have enjoyed the book as much. The pictures made the book!½

A story of a boy who lets his own pride and need to be the best destroy the city in which he lives.

A twist to the tale of Cinderella, the main character is a witch who loves dirt but is not allowed to are d the ball. To her dismay the prince like her, loves dirt.

Fairytale (3)

A beautifully illustrated book that talk about the story of Medusa. Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, is ordered to get the head of Medusa. This book is thrilling and captivating as you learn about Medusa and Perseus' journey.

The Flame of Peace: A Tale of the Aztecs is the story of a young boy whose father dies in a conflict with a rival tribe. Before his father's death, he tells the boy that one day he might have to go in search of peace for the tribe. The boy does just that after his father's death, but has to get past a series of gods to do so. This book is interesting because it is unlike many other books I have read. The plot is different because I do not believe there are many books about children finding peace and halting wars. The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the illustrations. The illustrations are intricate and look like traditional art from when the book is set. It has a bunch of color and drew my focus on every page.

This was a folktale about a man who could not talk and defeated the bandit in the midst of the village. The illustrations were absolutely gorgeous. I liked this book because it addressed the concept of duplicity. The villain was actually a member of the village who kept driving the fool out of the village. Might be interesting to use as a book to discuss inference. At the end, the Phoenix flies off with another phoenix, even though we're told that her mate was killed. Who could we infer was the other phoenix? I inferred it was the fool transformed. What other inferences could we make?
Reading Level: 3.5 Interest Level: 3-6

I loved this book's artwork. It was beautifully in the genre of the folktale itself and lent so much to it. They really were just fantastic. Nice folktale, that was very much about how it can be even more difficult to create peace than war. Might use it when talking about conquistadors and Aztecs.
Reading Level: 3.5 Interest Level: K-3

Frida Maria's family is preparing for their big fiesta. Frida's mamá wants her to learn to be a good "señorita" for the fiesta; however, all Frida is interested in is the horses her uncle takes care of. Frida and her mamá both learn in the end that in order for the whole family to be happy, everyone must learn to do what is best for them.

From Egypt to Africa this book shows a pop up history of different cultures and talking about underwear! What is more intriguing than a history of underwear while showing pictures of different cultures.