Reviews: (by author)

Cuyler, Margery. Groundhog Stays up Late. Illus. Jean Cassels. New York : Walker & Company, 2005. $16.95

One fine autumn day, Groundhog decides he's having too much fun to hibernate and makes plans to spend the winter playing in the snow. All his friends tell him it's a bad idea and he'd be better off gathering up some food for the long cold nights. But Groundhog can't be bothered. Bear and Badger, Squirrel and Rabbit, Possum, Fox, and Weasel all make for their dens, shaking their heads as Groundhog blithely builds snowmen and tosses snowballs. Finally, Groundhog starts to get a bit hungry and cold, but no one is awake to help him. So Groundhog decides to play a nasty trick on his pals. He picks a morning when the snow has stopped falling and even seems to be melting a bit and announces in a loud voice, "Spring's come early!" Before you know it, all his friends are out and about, sharing the last of their hoarded food stores and exclaiming about how wonderful it is that winter is over at last. Or is it? Suddenly the snow begins to fall again and all the animals must retreat to their burrows once more. Needless to say, Groundhog's reputation has taken a bit of a beating and his former companions decide to play a similar trick on him. Fair's fair, after all. What can they possibly do to show that errant Groundhog the folly of his ways? Read on.

This is a skillfully written fable which keeps the reader guessing right up to the last page. Jean Cassels' beautiful illustrations bring the animals to life with distinct personalities emerging from each picture. It will make a lovely addition to any child's library.

-Mark Janssen, March 2006

 

Cuyler, Margery. Big Friends. Illus Ezra Tucker. New York: Walker Publishing, 2004. $16.95. ISBN 0-8027-8886-6. 32 pp.

Big Friends is a fun tall tale about a giant man named Big Hasuni who lives on a mountain with his pets, a giant elephant and a giant lion. Big Hasuni is lonely because he has no friends or family. One day while cooking a porridge, he spots smoke rising from a small island in the ocean. He runs down to the island to find a large-scale lobster dinner, hammock, and stool there. He eats the lobster, breaks the stool and sleeps in the hammock. While sleeping, a giant woman approaches and angry to find her food eaten and her stool broken, she wakes Big Hasuni. Big Hasuni runs away in shock and fright, even though the giant woman calls out to him. When he returns to his own campsite, he finds his pot knocked over, his own stool broken, and his hammock twisted in a knot. The giant woman shows up and they realize that they had messed up the others campsite. They laughed and decided to eat dinner together. They worked together to prepare their meal and became friends.

This story is a combination between a tall tale involving a giant, which most of them do, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It teaches no real lesson on life, but is fun and good for sheer entertainment. The illustrations are large and colorful and lifelike.

Recommended
Holly Boland, May 2004

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