Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature)
Three interrelated tales taking place by the Arabian Sea have the flavor of legend. When a fisherman releases a genie from a bottle, instead of the wish he expects, he is promised death. To dissuade the genie, the fisherman tells him the story of a very sick king cured by Dhuban, the doctor. The cure is so humiliating that the king wants to kill Dhuban. The doctor, in turn (to prove you must not repay evil with good), tells about a prince hunting a deer. When his dog stops his horse, the prince kills the dog, even though the dog tried to save him. But the unconvinced king kills Dhuban, and is punished. However, the genie still wants to kill the fisherman, who must trick him to save his life. Hirao's double-page pastels employ warm colors to evoke the sensuality of Arabia while producing architectural arches and bits of white costumes hinting at the locale. The page designs, relying on mostly abstract renderings of landscape features and sculptural figures, produce very appealing monumental settings suitable for such legendary themes. 2002, Atheneum Books for Young Readers/ Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division, $16.00. Ages 5 to 9.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, June 15, 2002 (Vol. 70, No. 12))
A twist on the traditional folkloric motif goes on too long and loses its way and its audience. The rather violent tale set on the Arabian Sea begins with an unnamed fisherman pulling a genie's bottle from the water. Instead of granting him three wishes, the genie, enraged by his long wait, announces that he will kill the man instead. The fisherman replies that repaying kindness with evil will bring down the punishments of Heaven and Fate, and launches into a story to explain. That story, of a healer who cures a king but makes him look foolish in the process, is set off from the first by a different text font, but not by any variance in illustration. The vibrant pastels, while interesting in their own right, consistently fail to capture the characters, who all look the same except for the purple genie. When the king threatens to kill the healer, the healer launches into his own story, of a prince who kills his faithful hunting dog when he feels that the dog has spoiled his sport. The king, however, does not listen to the healer, but kills him, too (dying by poison in the process), which brings us back to the original fisherman and the genie. "That," says the fisherman, "is the story of how evil follows evil." Unfortunately, none of the depressing stories has anything to do with the genie, who bellows in ALL CAPS some fairly standard threats until the fisherman tricks him into returning to his bottle. Better trickster stories and better genie stories abound. Text-heavy and without magic, this one can be passed by. 2002, Atheneum, $16.00. Category: Picture book. Ages 5 to 9. © 2002 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2002 (Vol. 56, No. 2))
A fisherman releases a genie from a bottle; the genie, embittered by his long imprisonment, refuses to grant wishes and instead swears vengeance. The fisherman counters by telling the genie a story of a king and a healer, and within that story, the healer tells the king a story of a prince and his dog; each tale illustrates the moral of how evil deeds only beget evil. When the genie remains unimpressed, the fisherman questions the genie’s might, challenging him to grow both large and small--just small enough to fit back in the bottle. This tale borrows heavily from traditional folklore, from the opening sequence wherein the fisherman catches a genie’s lamp in his nets to the concluding contest of wits between genie and man. The storytelling is lengthy but smooth, and while the wordiness may limit the title’s readaloud value, the construction of the tale within the tale is clever enough to capture independent readers looking for something a little different. While the Middle Eastern motifs are somewhat generic, the changing perspectives of Hirao’s intensely hued pastels enhance the unusual compositions; sometimes huge figures dominate the pages, sometimes single figures dramatically emphasize spatial differences. These are moral tales attractively disguised, and teachers seeking to spark discussion of issues of responsibility and ethics would do well to look here. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2002, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2002, Atheneum, 34p, $16.00. Grades 3-6.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2003)
In this original fairy tale, a fisherman spins out two stories to save his life when his net brings in an angry genie. The genie, bitter over his three-thousand-year confinement in a bottle, has sworn to kill whoever releases him. The substantial text of the compound stories is well suited to the older picture book audience. Brash, bright colors and swooping curves conjure the magic world and its original yet familiar inhabitants. Category: Picture Books. 2002, Atheneum, 40pp, $16.00. Ages 4 to 9. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.