The Crows of Pearblossom

January 24, 2011
For Christmas 1944, the author of Brave New World wrote this story of a crow couple's battle with an egg-eating snake, giving it to his six-year-old niece, who provides an afterword (the tale was first published in 1967). Unsurprisingly, this is no cheery animal fable. "very afternoon punctually at half past three," while Mr. Crow is working and Mrs. Crow is shopping, Rattlesnake slithers into their nest. "If there was an egg in the nest—which there generally was—he would swallow it in one mouthful, shell and all." Mrs. Crow discovers the snake and tells her husband to save their "darling eggs." Tricked into eating a heavy clay egg, the snake ends up as a clothesline, and Mrs. Crow happily breeds "four families of seventeen children each." Blackall (Pecan Pie Baby) pictures a lovely gnarled tree as the prolific family's residence, yet her unnerving watercolors of the glassy-eyed crows reinforce the story's sinister elements. With Huxley's mordant wit in ample supply, this tale will entertain literary novelty seekers; it's best suited for children who don't mind some darkness in their stories. Ages 4–8.

February 1, 2011
Huxley's story, his only children's book and not meant for widespread publication, starts good and grim—just the thing to hold a young audience. Mrs. Crow's eggs are mysteriously disappearing: 297 eggs a year, "a fresh egg every single day—except Sundays, of course, and public holidays." The culprit is a rattlesnake that lives in a hole under her tree. "I'm having breakfast," he explains with sinister meaning when she finally catches him in the act. Mrs. Crow suggests to Mr. Crow that he go down the hole and kill the snake. Mr. Crow demurs: "Your ideas are seldom good" (yes, touches of rudeness are sprinkled throughout). He consults the wise owl, who concocts a shrewd plan—without Mr. Crow's input; "keep your beak shut and do exactly what I do," spoken in a high tone—to fashion clay decoy eggs. The snake eats them, dies (after a lecture from Mrs. Crow) and is subsequently used as a clothesline for diapers. Though the book is handsomely designed, Blackall's artwork, accomplished as it is, isn't a snug fit. She captures the menace of the snake, but the crows are a different matter, with their dead, sharklike eyes, silly clothes and strange wings resembling spruce bows. Hair curlers hardly embody the shrew in Mrs. Crow, and Mr. Crow's martini is just trivial. The story, however, is a powerful hymn to smarts, with unrepentant scorn for the greedy and the witless. (Picture book. 4-8)

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May 1, 2011

K-Gr 3-Each day Mrs. Crow lays an egg, and each day a rattlesnake slithers up the tree and swallows it while the bird is out shopping. Mr. Crow offers no sympathy when his wife explains the situation and asks him to kill the intruder. He soundly rejects the proposal, telling her, "Your ideas are seldom good." He and his friend Old Man Owl bake and paint two clay eggs and place them in the nest. The unsuspecting snake swallows the decoys whole and wraps himself in knots around the branches trying to ease his stomachache. The story ends with Mrs. Crow happily using him as a clothesline for diapers from the numerous children she has successfully hatched. Blackall ably illustrates the tale, adding humorous touches such as a briefcase for Mr. Crow, hair rollers for Mrs. Crow, and fang dentures for the "very old" rattlesnake. Yet, her well-crafted paintings seem wasted on this rather dated and unpleasant story. Mr. Crow repeatedly belittles his wife, who screams at him and his friend. Written by Huxley in 1944 for his niece and including reference to family members and friends, this is the only story he produced for children. As such it might hold some interest for scholars of literature, but it seems an odd choice for collections serving children.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2011
Preschool-G There may be a reason why Huxleys children's story, written for his young niece in 1944, has long been out of print; its pretty gruesome. But then, so is the reality of survival in the wild, and kids will enjoy this storys trickster twists and turns, especially a small creatures triumph over a giant, scary monster. Once upon a time, two crows nest in a cottonwood tree. A cozy opening picture shows the birds home with a grandfather clock and a newly laid egg in a cradle. But in a hole at the bottom of the tree lives Rattlesnake, who climbs up and swallows the eggs that Mrs. Crow lays. When Mrs. Crow returns from shopping, she is, of course, distraught to find her darling little one gone. Then her husband consults with Old Man Owl, and together they trick Rattlesnake into swallowing two clay eggs, which give him an excruciating stomachache. A final view shows Rattlesnake as Mrs. Crows clothesline. Talk about a brave new world!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)