The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Huxley, Aldous

The Crows of Pearblossom

40 pp. | Abrams | March, 2011 | Trade ISBN 978-0-8109-9730-1 $16.95
New ed. (1967, Random)

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Two crows, assisted by an owl, outsmart the snake that's eating their eggs. The crows go on to have a large family--and to use the snake as a clothesline. This is an at-times humorous, if somewhat mean-spirited tale with primary appeal to Huxley's adult fans; the original small-format edition included art by Barbara Cooney. Blackall's Chinese ink and watercolor illustrations lighten the text's mood.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth