Jude Daly

A stonemason named Sivu creates masterpieces - but is embittered by his lack of wealth and power. Suddenly, his wishes come true and he is the businessman he envies...then the mayor...then the sun...then a rain cloud...then the wind...then a rock...and he realizes it is the stonemason who is the most powerful. The brief note at the end says this is based on a Taoist tale "The Stone Cutter." I know very little about Taoist philosophy, so I suppose it is coming from a completely different show more culture that makes this story confusing to me. In each more powerful incarnation of Sivu, he makes more and more people miserable and they curse him for his cruelty and power. But...at what point did he decide to abuse his new power? Why couldn't he have used it to help? The message of the story seems to be twofold; that no matter how lowly, everyone has power over something, but also that power = oppression. There were a couple funny bits, as when as a businessman "he would declare that a shipment of wool was too woolly." I wouldn't suggest this unless you have a segment of patrons familiar with Taoist and/or Eastern philosophy. Unless I'm generalizing and the themes I see aren't Taoist, just what I saw in the story. Borrowed from library. show less

Fair, Brown, and Trembling is the Irish version of the folktale Cinderella, with some changes made to the setting and characters, but the same basic plot line.
In other Cinderella stories it is explained why the main character is treated badly, but in this book it has never been explained why one of the children has to clean up, cook and wash the dishes.
Nevertheless, I really like the illustrations and colours of the book. It is made very fitting to Ireland, with lots of green in it.

In a unique take on the classic Cinderella tale, the Cinderella of this Irish folktale is Trembling. The text was very descriptive, I think kids would be able to easily picture everything described even without the aid of the illustrations. I think this is the closest a picture book can come to keeping with oral tradition. I can easily see this being remembered and passed down word from word. It's the perfect story to read aloud.

This book is a Bible verse broken into pages and illustrations for a younger audience. Daly used awesome imagery to help tell the story. The seasons talked about are not actual seasons of weather, but seasons of life. Daly though uses images to portray different seasons through this book. Overall I loved this book, and it will become a staple in my personal library.