Readers will eagerly line up to join these mermaid games.
Will mermaids ruin Goblin’s first vacation in centuries?
In this latest in the series, Goblin is exhausted (check out our hero’s extensive and humorous To Do List if you have any doubts) and decides to take a much-needed break. Goblin heads to the beach, only to make a horrible discovery: The seashore is the site of the 105th Annual Mermaid Tournament of Awesomeness. Most people think mermaids are amazing, but Goblin begs to differ. Mermaids are loud! They ruin Goblin’s search for inner peace, and the shadows cast by their sand castles keep Goblin from getting a tan. Forget about snorkeling—an arm-wrestling competition between an octopus and several mermaids makes the experience “less than serene.” Cranky Goblin’s first-person narration is delightfully understated at times. “What was supposed to be a lazy trip down the river turned out to be anything but,” complains Goblin as the mermaids swim by, nearly knocking Goblin off an inner tube and sending our hero down a waterfall. Just as things are looking dangerous, Goblin finds a way to triumph. As with previous installments, Willan has crafted an enticing setting filled with saucer-eyed characters and rendered in a candy-colored palette; big-eared, exasperated Goblin’s particularly endearing, and readers will love spotting the protagonist’s slug sidekick on each page, as well as a crab who’s magically been turned into a taco.
Readers will eagerly line up to join these mermaid games. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781665962599
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of the series will delight in seeing these favorites again, and Girl and Dragon should win some new ones.
A young girl and a dragon take their sweet friendship on an adventure.
After sharing the beginning and deepening of their friendship in Lovabye Dragon (2012) and Evermore Dragon (2015), Joosse puts this twosome on a journey to the high seas. Girl, forever sleeping in her same bed, dreams of sailing away. Dragon, snug in his lair, dreams of sailing with Girl. “Sometimes when friends share a heart / they dream the same thing, apart.” So they pack a wicker basket, a spyglass, and a banner and wave goodbye. The ocean provides plenty of interest with dolphins, whales, and Bad Hats with ratty beards (depicted as Vikings who differ only in the amount of their facial hair). There’s also a cat. The dreamy, highly textured oil pictures by Cecil in his signature palette of gentle grays, greens, and blues make the transition from land to sea seamlessly. With a tender nod to “The Owl and the Pussycat,” the scenery is full of diversions while the clever rhyming verse full of wordplay drifts the story farther from Home. The hazy images allow young minds to see this tiny princess with dark hair as racially ambiguous. As in many famous stories, one must leave home to find home, which is the same for these two loving friends. “With Dragon as boat / and Girl as crew / there was nothing—nothing—they couldn’t do!”
Fans of the series will delight in seeing these favorites again, and Girl and Dragon should win some new ones. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7313-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
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