FICTION

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by I. C SPRINGMAN
H. illus. by Brian Lies. unpaged. CIP. Houghton Harcourt. Mar. 2012. RTE $16.99. ISBN 978-0-547-61083-2. LC 2011025131.
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PreS-Gr 3—Told in a spare 27 words, this visual tale features an inauspicious magpie, a corvid well known for its intelligence and acquisitiveness. The three-part tale can be summarized as "more…less…enough." The magpie and a mouse start with nothing, find a few shiny, cast-off items, and hustle them to their nests. Then suddenly, and not surprisingly, their nests are bursting with stuff: keys, coins, LEGOs, marbles, combs, necklaces, Tinkertoys, padlocks, and more. Young readers will find themselves in a Waldo world of things to point to and identify. The paintings are highly realistic and up close, in acrylic on handmade paper, and the text is hand lettered, which brings home its ecological message. The tide turns on one of the darkest-hued pages, when the magpie, famously reflected in a mirror, recognizes that enough is enough. But it is too late, and here lies the message. This is a timely, clearly needed fable for contemporary society as it tries to unravel itself from excessive materialism. Ideal for discussions about reducing consumption.—Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City
A friendly mouse helps a magpie out when it begins to collect way too many objects. The spare text makes each of its twenty-seven words work as it builds up to its crescendo of stuff and back again, while realistic acrylics keep viewers' attentions focused on the characters and clutter. The message here is overt, but the treatment is clever, effective, and commendably understated.
A downcast magpie with an empty nest ("nothing") cheers up when a friendly mouse offers it a marble ("something"). Now the consumerism runs riot and the magpie collects object after object -- red Lego brick, coin, set of keys, broken necklace, pair of sunglasses -- until it has "lots," "plenty," "much too much." When the tree branch breaks under the weight of the overloaded nest, the magpie begins to divest itself of its possessions ("less," "a lot less," "not much at all") until it has just "enough" -- the original marble, a chess piece, a ribbon, and a friend. The spare text makes each of its twenty-seven words work as it builds up to its crescendo of stuff and back again. Realistic acrylics on backgrounds of handmade paper keep viewers' attentions focused on the characters and clutter; the hoarded objects will be of interest to kids without being terribly attractive -- fun to identify, but not covet. The message here is overt, but the treatment is clever, effective, and commendably understated. martha v. parravano
Reviewed by Sara Lissa Paulson , Mar 01, 2012

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