Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this retelling of a story from the Kalevala (an epic poem), Louhi the Witch, who likes to make mischief, turns into an eagle and steals the sun and the moon out of the sky. She locks them up behind the nine iron doors of her storeroom, and the world is plunged into darkness. Vainamoinen, the Great Singer, the Great Knower, whose singing had caused the moon and the sun to come out, goes to see Louhi, but she frightens him away. Vainamoinen asks Seppo, the smith, to make a new sun and moon, but Seppo’s efforts fail. Angrily, the smith forges an iron collar and nine “terrible” iron chains. Louhi, disguised as a hawk, hears of the chains, and hurries to release the sun and the moon. De Gerez’s version of this is weak compared to the original, in which Louhi is not a witch on a farm but a female ruler of Pohjola, a powerful land in the north. But Cooney’s pictures are splendidly detailed, and the spread of the dark world, in stark white on black, is a special shock after the previous abundance of color.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4 Although at the beginning and at the end of this tale from the Kalevala, Louhi looks as harmless as a kitchen witch dangling by the cupboard, in between she steals the sun and moon and causes much mischief. The grandmotherly Louhi is a shape changer, at home knitting socks, comfortable as an eagle snatching the Earth’s light. (Children who watch He-Man after school will readily accept this mixture of the heroic and the homey.) The story is nevertheless disappointing. The strong motivation and strong personalities of the epic are much diminished. Louhi steals the sun and moon casually, looking for “some Witch-Witch-Witchety things to do.” The bard Vainamoinen is powerless to set things to right. Seppo, the smith, blusters more than actually shows his power. However, Cooney’s provocative illustrationsmixed media, predominately acrylicswill carry most children beyond all this. A perfect winter stillness hangs in her snow pictures. The terrible darkness in her landscapes in which light no longer shines is a powerful reminder of the story’s origin in Finland’s national epic. Yet, if the artist in the reader is satisfied, the storyteller wishes for more. Anna Biagioni Hart, Sherwood Regional Library, Alexandria, Va.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
