The Water Shell

This plodding first solo effort by Schields, illustrator of Amy Tan's The Moon Lady (see Picture Book Reprints, p. 63), is set on the mythical island of Kua-i-Helani, a ""changeless paradise"" protected by the Water Shell, a magic egg. Incorporating South Pacific legend and folklore, the narrative wordily and melodramatically recounts how the evil Fire Queen steals the egg, and how a girl named Keiki retrieves it and thereby saves the island. Keiki's rambling quest advances with the help of some curious individuals (including two ``fabulously tattooed'' Wind Children) but is considerably slowed down by Schields's tendency to overwrite: Keiki ""tore the magic egg from the flaming breast of the Fire Queen and pulled it to her""; after it is returned, the egg opens and water rises from it ""into a misty rainbow in the sky, forming great clouds that rained down on the land in fertile showers."" Every bit as theatrical as the text, Schields's highly charged watercolors feature electric hues and some apocalyptic images that are potentially disturbing. Even the all's-well ending, which finds Keiki a young woman in a ``pulsing world of hope and choice,'' does little to solidify this overblown tale. Ages 6-10. (Oct.)