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Johnson, Paul Brett
7 Reviews
(2)
PS
Lyrics by Tom Glazer. A canine chef tells how he came to make the meatball that was set off on a journey "when somebody sneezed," and his folksy narrative is punctuated throughout with the words of Glazer's original song. Exuberant animal characters appear throughout. Storytime groups will love this one, especially if the storyteller is willing to sing. Music is appended.
Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2006
(2)
K-3
Johnson draws on tales he heard as a boy for this lively updated rendition of Appalachian variants of European tales about the boy hero-trickster. The aw-shucks tone is just right for this wily, self-deprecating hero. Johnson sets the wide-eyed Jack's agile pranks in sweeping landscapes whose spare detail is a fine foil for the humorous characterizations and the delicious perils that ensue.
Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2001
(4)
K-3
Magnolia the goose longs for goslings, but after she tries to hatch Easter eggs and almost drowns the hen's chicks teaching them to swim, Miss Rosemary's scolding sends her off to hide in a sulk. Despite Miss Rosemary's best efforts, nothing lures Magnolia back--until a baby circus elephant is left behind and Magnolia can finally satisfy her maternal urges. The ending is somewhat random, but the down-home story and pointillist illustrations are amusing.
Reviewer: Susan Halperin
(4)
K-3
Amos Dyer, "a swapping fool," gets tricked by Sam Hankins into trading one of his wife's prized gourds for a filthy bear hide. Amos learns about some hidden gold and uses this information to conduct the mother of all swaps, with Amos getting the gold and Sam ending up with the bear hide again. Johnson's tale, though too easily resolved, is fast paced and imaginative, and his textured, pastel-colored illustrations add to the folksy mood.
Reviewer: Mark Adam
(3)
K-3
When Old Dry Frye, a preacher with a passion for fried chicken, chokes to death on a bone, his hosts, fearing charges of murder, set off an outrageous chain of events that ends when a cranky horse carries the preacher away. In the energetic illustrations for this humorous new version of an Appalachian tale, Johnson suggests that Old Dry Frye may have survived his ordeal after all.
Reviewer: Martha Sibert
(3)
K-3
Gertrude, the flying cow from The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down, gains a groupie in this suitably silly barnyard tale, illustrated with amiable caricatures. Miss Rosemary's pig George tries to do everything Gertrude does--fly, drive, play music--but unlike Gertrude, George doesn't quite have the knack for any of these. Miss Rosemary finally comes up with a reverse-psychology plan that sets things right again.
Reviewer: Christine M. Heppermann
(4)
K-3
In this original folktale Ivan the Fool outwits Baba Yaga, the witch from Russian folklore. The old witch thinks she's tricked Ivan into making her pork stew, but Ivan cooks up a batch of dirt soup and wheels a pig home in his barrow. Comical, though awkwardly rendered watercolor and pencil illustrations bring the Russian folk characters to life. Although not for the purist, this tale is amusing.
Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.
7 reviews
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