Crookjaw - Hardcover

Grade 1-3?Ichabod Paddock caught his first whale with his teething ring and tallied 431 more by the time he was 10. But he meets his match in Crookjaw, who seethes, jumps, smashes, and stays out of harpoon reach. Meanwhile, back on Nantucket Island, Ichabod's wife, Smilinda, has forebodings; rowing out to sea, she sees her husband's boots sticking out of the leviathan's maw. Suspecting witchcraft, she rows home and crafts a silver harpoon. Thanks to Smilinda's smarts and Ichabod's harpooning skills, the witch who has ensorcelled Crookjaw is vanquished. This original tall tale is quirky and a bit murky; very dramatic, it is not for the faint of heart. After being rescued, Ichabod is described as "half-chewed, half-dead, and all wet." The whale is so massive that often only her tail or gaping jaws appear in the illustrations. Effectively using dialect, Cohen captures the cadence of a droll Yankee narrator and creates strong and intrepid female characters (animal and human). An author's note provides essential background on the dangers of whaling and the superstitions of colonial New England. The rustic oil paintings on boards show the green and blue of the North Atlantic. White pages with text effectively pace the unfolding tale and are sprinkled with objects flung from the illustrations opposite. Curvaceous lines and figures reinforce the cresting waves. Difficult to fathom without the background provided by the author's note, this nautical yarn is best shared with sophisticated listeners.?Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This fanciful story has its roots in New England whaling lore, from a time when witches were thought to inhabit the bellies of the more vicious whales. As Cohen (Pigeon, Pigeon, 1992, etc.) tells it, Ichabod, a whaler of world-renown, runs up against the fabled whale, Crookjaw. After being flummoxed by the beast, Ichabod plunges down the whale's throat in response to a siren call and falls quickly under the spell of the witch therein. Ichabod's wife, Smilinda, takes to the sea to find her man, sizes up the situation, returns home to fashion a harpoon of silver (the only element capable of turning a witch to wood), and rows back to Ichabod, where they dispatch the witch. The focus is at first on the hero and then the heroine (whom Ichabod seems to have married when he was ten)--canny, resourceful Smilinda, the only character who really comes to life. With so much going on in so few words, the story never develops dramatic tension, and at one point the New England ambience dissipates due to Southern-sounding dialogue: ``That ain't no way to keep your britches dry,'' ``Git aloft,'' ``Jumpin' tadpoles!,'' and ``Lookie here.'' In her first picture book, Bronson's accomplished oil paintings recall Stefano Vitale's work, although Bronson takes more license with perspectives and is not entirely keyed in to the text: Crookjaw's mouth is fairly symmetrical in appearance, even with its complement of snaggled teeth. (Picture book. 5-9) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.