The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels (Little Ark Book) - Hardcover

Small, peculiar children with enormous gifts parade through this storybook of almost self-contained chapters, set down amidst alternating pages of whimsical full-color and b&w illustrations. Lindalou, born with a golden hammer and nail in her hands, amazes everyone with her skilled wooden creations; Andy, previously overlooked because of his alleged shyness, becomes a lion tamer; Valentina paints portraits of people, not as they are but as she believes them to be, and they are transformed; Ignatius (of the title piece) can smell danger and thus save lives; Ferdinand's curiosity and a magic pair of spectacles lead to his greatness in the field of medicine. Fienberg plants her tongue strategically near her cheek in chronicling the children's fairly mild dilemmas and includes a golden spider to bind the tales lightly together and supply a little extraneous magic. The greatest treasures may be the observations of the adults who, either oblivious or enamored of their children's skills, buoy the tales with almost every comment. (Picture book. 6-9) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Grade 2-4-- Five short stories are tied together by the presence of a golden spider named Aristan. Each tale features a child with a remarkable gift, e.g. a boy's magic spectacles allow him to see inside people and diagnose diseases. Aristan occasionally, but not always, helps the plot along. Watercolors in both full-color and black-and-white adorn almost every page and portray the people in a quirky and playful style. Unfortunately, the stories are contrived and predictable. The characters embody one idea, such as greed or kindness; the themes are always the same: that the children can help other people and follow their own hearts' desires. Richard Hughes, Hans Christian Andersen, and Jane Yolen offer better literary fairy tales for this age group. --Caroline Parr, Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Fredericksburg, VA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.