Clever Crow

Clever Crow

From BooklistAges 3^-6. In an affectionate double trickster story, a girl outwits a crafty crow--who tricks her right back. Schindler's colored pencil illustrations on parchment paper show the big, cheeky black bird in his tree and his bird's-eye view of Emma's house and yard as he sweeps down to grab shiny things and stash them in his nest. When crow snatches her mother's keys and flies off with them tight in his beak, Emma makes a plan ("Crow is smart, but I am smarter / Gonna teach that bird to barter"). She lures the greedy crow with a ball of silver wrapping paper, and the bird drops the keys for the shiny, sparkling ball. Emma and her mama drive off in triumph, but then crow flies right through Emma's window to pick up more loot. Fun for reading aloud, the simple rhyming words with their raucous refrain express the noisy standoff between the smart kid and the sly bird ("Haw! Haw! Haw!"). Hazel RochmanSurveying the land for something shiny that will make a perfect addition to his nest, Clever Crow flies off with Emma's mother's keys, prompting Emma's attempt to outwit the wily crow, in a story told with rhymes and mischievous art.From Publishers WeeklyA pestering crow meets his match in this sprightly takeoff on Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Grapes." Outside Emma Wetherby's house, a black crow fond of shiny things "watches from his hidden limb,/ Laughs 'cause folks can't fly like him./ 'Haw! Haw! Haw!' " When Emma's mom leaves her car keys on the porch, Crow swoops down and nabs them, laughing all the while. Then Emma reasons, "Crow is smart, but I am smarterA/ Gonna teach that bird to barter./ 'How? How? How?' " Emma finds the answer in her box of treasuresAan alluring, shiny gum-wrapper ball which she offers to Crow. He drops the keys, but while Emma and her mom drive away triumphantly, the crow flies through an open window and snatches a prize from Emma's dresser, her mirror. DeFelice's (The Dancing Skeleton) rhyming verse crackles with a jaunty tone well matched by Schindler's (Don't Fidget a Feather) colored-pencil-on-parchment illustrations. The alternating perspectives in these scenes deftly move from Crow's aerial view, to Emma's or her mom's earthbound vantage points, accentuating the actions and counteractions in this game of wits. Ages 3-7.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalKindergarten-Grade 3AWhen Clever Crow steals Mama's car keys, it's up to Emma to out-trick the trickster. This simple plot (whose denouement suggests a sequel) is told in rhythmic verse with a "Haw! Haw! Haw!" refrain. The text is pleasingly catchy with perfect rhyme (and even works as rap, which some readers will be bound to try); but the story often seems sacrificed to the rhythm. Tension is lost in the unflagging meter, and articles and initial pronouns are often (but not systematically) left out if they don't fit the beat. While the color-pencil drawings exhibit excellent perspective and layout, their subjects are a bit stiff. Yet, Crow's postures and the beat of the text have an undeniable "oh so clever" energy that a strong reader might carry off aloud. Perhaps not a first purchase, this book will still find its fans.ANina Lindsay, Vista School, Albany, CACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus ReviewsFrom DeFelice (Willy's Silly Grandma, 1997, etc.), a rollicking, rhyming read-aloud with a clever little girl and the crow of the title. Crow loves shiny things, and steals Emma's mother's keys right off the front porch. Emma, not to be outdone, lures the bird with a silver ball, ``made of silver wrappers from/Thirty zillion sticks of gum.'' While Emma gets the keys back, Crow has the last laugh; as Emma and her mother drive off, the bird flies in through an open window to steal a pocket mirror. The colored- pencil on parchment paper illustrations are appealingly contemporary: Emma has pierced ears, jeans, sneakers, and her hair is in a scrunch