Washington Post Book Reviews
For You
Wednesday August 18, 2010
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OH NO! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)
Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Dan Santat
Disney/Hyperion
ISBN 978 0 375 86190 1
NA pages
$16.99
Reviewed by Kristi Jemtegaard
How refreshing: a kick-butt-girl-science-nerd -- not your usual picture-book heroine! Told in the first person, our young experimenter's tale begins at the end -- or almost the end -- of her scientific shenanigans: "Oh no ... Oh man ... I knew it." The fact that she's a lone, brightly colored figure trekking through a dark landscape of crumpled pavement, smoke-filled skies, broken trees and spouting water mains makes turning the page impossible to resist. It all started, apparently, in an ordinary gym at an ordinary science fair that morphed into a fiasco at the exact moment prizes were being awarded. Amid the baking-soda volcanoes and cups of sprouting seeds, the first-place project -- in advanced robotics -- runs, to put it mildly, amok. "I probably shouldn't have given it a superclaw, or a laser eye, or the power to control dogs' minds," muses our girl. Super-slick cartoon illustrations from ever-shifting perspectives (now you're looking out of the robot's eye; now you're at shoe level staring up at a giant girl) blend the conventions of the graphic novel with the grand sweep of the Imax screen. Is she daunted by the task of saving the world? Not so you'd notice. Does it all work out in the end? Well, sorta -- except for that pair of giant toad legs leaping over the rooftops. Filled with sly visual jokes and oddball details, this hilarious sendup of an often painful rite of passage for parents and kids alike is falling-down funny.
Copyright 2010 Washington Post Writers Group
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BALLET FOR MARTHA: Making Appalachian Spring
Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan. Illustrated by Brian Floca
Roaring Book
ISBN 978 1 59643 338 0
$17.99
Reviewed by Abby McGanney Nolan
Like "Action Jackson," Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan's picture book about the making of a Pollock masterpiece, "Ballet for Martha" offers a close-up look at the creative process. It's also a rare glimpse into collaboration, since most children's books about artists, dancers and composers focus on a single individual. Greenberg and Jordan clearly value a good partnership, having worked together for many years. Their impressive alliance is further boosted here by Brian Floca's line-and-watercolor illustrations; his expressive portraits and scenes are as appealing as the well-chosen details of the narrative.
The book begins by introducing choreographer Martha Graham, composer Aaron Copland and set designer Isamu Noguchi, the three people responsible for "Appalachian Spring," one of the 20th century's most famous dances. Over the course of a year, they mostly worked apart, but the book reveals the connections between them: Copland reading Graham's script revisions, then devising the score at his piano; Noguchi showing Graham his tiny models of a western Pennsylvania settlement. Once Graham heard Copland's music and its echoes of a Virginia reel, a rodeo and Shaker hymns, she could begin "turning steps into patterns that will bring the dance to life." Floca manages to capture both the movements of Graham's pioneering choreography and the spare beauty of Noguchi's angular set. "Appalachian Spring" debuted in Washington, D.C., in 1944, but the authors make clear that its life goes on, with new dancers continually forging new connections with the piece.
Copyright 2010 Washington Post Writers Group
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