Themes of diversity and self-esteem not only fill the sails, but keep firm grasp of the wheel in this nautical caper.
A pirate captain so tiny he can be stuffed in a rival captain’s pocket discovers that greatness can come in any size or shape.
That conclusion, though worthy, doesn’t have much connection to the actual story, but it’s so good-natured most readers won’t mind. Being so dinky that his own crew can’t hear his commands, Little Captain Jack is finally driven to tears when Pirate Badlock ends a shipboard battle by picking him up and chucking him into the “cellar.” But after he manages to escape with help from a mouse and a sea gull, Jack rejoins his delighted crew and “finally felt proud and happy to be Little Captain Jack!” Outfitted with wooden swords and, in Badlock’s case, a fork rather than a hook at the end of one arm, the fierce but not very dangerous-looking pirates here include dogs, cats, and birds as well as men and women both brown or (more commonly) pink of skin. Eye patches and lopped limbs can be seen on every, er, hand, and one rosy-cheeked young tar even gets around in a wheelchair, begad. Carretero clearly enjoys making the most of Little Captain Jack’s diminutive size, positioning him in the shadow of an enormous sneaker in one scene and dwarfing him by his mouse friend in another.
Themes of diversity and self-esteem not only fill the sails, but keep firm grasp of the wheel in this nautical caper. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-84-945415-0-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NubeOcho
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
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