R. O. Blechman

My favorite movie of all time is Amadeus, which sets this fictionalized biography of Mozart for a giant fail in comparison. Amadeo plays out Mozart's life in parallel to an unknown half-brother named Maladeo. The author tells us up front the story is his attempt to make a statement about fame, art, talent and culture, but frankly I didn't see much point to what actually landed on the page and was left with an overwhelming feeling of meh.

The art is a cartoony minimalist style with extremely shaky line work that actually worked fairly well. The same squiggly quality was applied to the lettering and that was less successful.… (mehr)

Franklin the fly lives a perilous life in New York City. He might get swatted or stepped on or... worse. I ordered this book thinking my 5 year old daughter might enjoy it, but after previewing it myself and having my wife look at it, we both agreed it isn't appropriate for any of our children. I was surprised when Franklin's uncle loses his family to a strip of flypaper (with a bunch of sad and surprised-looking flies stuck to it), but that was nothing compared to the picture of a blood-spattered butcher holding a bloody knife, explaining that Franklin's glad he isn't a delicious animal like a pig or a goose or chicken. The "story" meanders on to Franklin explaining how he likes to draw shapes when he flies (even though the other flies think he's nuts) and then heading out to the countryside where he saves a butterfly from a man with a net, thereby making a friend.

Maybe it's a New York-style sense of humor, but I can't imagine anyone thinking this story is appropriate for young children, even if you're hoping to instill a vegetarian ethic in them. And I doubt older children would enjoy such a simple story either. The artwork is okay - nothing fancy - but there's no real storyline here. It's aimless with a few pages I'm sure parents would rather not have to explain. I'm afraid Mr. Blechman doesn't spend much time with children.… (mehr)