White Nineteens - Hardcover

Christiana, David

4.31

13 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374383901 ISBN 13: 9780374383909

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1992

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Buttercup's favorite wings--her White Nineteens--are stolen, so she dons her pink wings and flutters through the forest in search of the burglar.

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From Kirkus Reviews:

Another intriguing visual extravaganza from the creator of Drawer in a Drawer (1990). On a lovely summer morning, Buttercup (an elfin creature) can't find her favorite wings--her ``White Nineteens''--one of the many pairs she stores on coat-hangers. Her search leads from Owl and Queen Bee to ``the Opposite Side of the Forest,'' where a menacing orange cat takes her through the snow to a troll who does indeed have the wings. Escaping, Buttercup leaves the pink wings she was wearing, retrieves her White Nineteens from the sleeping troll, and flies back to summer. On the surface, this is more accessible than Drawer in a Drawer, but the resonances--especially in the allusive, surreal illustrations--are even more complex and enigmatic. Meanwhile, in its textures, details, and compositions, the extraordinary art burgeons with delights: an enormous monocled owl with odd bits of twigs and ribbons caught in his meticulously rendered feathers; the bizarre assortment of intertwined objects that frame the title; the brooding derelict car where the Troll makes his home. Exquisitely designed and executed; wonderfully strange. (Picture book. 5+) -- Copyright �1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- A book dominated by full-page, double-spread paintings that surprise and delight. Mysterious and compelling, the watercolor and colored pencil pictures in rich, muted tones have an ambiguous quality, balancing the sinister with the whimsical. The story revolves around Buttercup, a miniature child or tree sprite with a collection of winged apparel who goes in search of a missing pair of wings, her ``white nineteens.'' She follows a suspicious cat who leads her to the culprit: a troll is using them to keep his ears warm. Although the text is rather cryptic, and the pacing awkward, Christiana plays with perspectives to create a fantastic landscape, filling it with characters that include a giant humanoid queen bee, the troll, and a magnificent flame-colored cat whose paws are endowed with opposable thumbs. While not a choice for story hour, this might entice children with a penchant for imaginative play to embellish the tale on their own. --Corinne Camarata, Port Washington Public Library, NY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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