Eye filling and eclectic, this is an imagination-stirring bedtime treat for young children.
Davis leads readers on an odyssey through a fantasy dreamland in this children’s picture book.
“What if when night falls, dreams come true?” A combination of gorgeous artwork and narrative whimsy, this “what if” story is an invitation to imagine a sleepy-time world where purple cows eat purple grass, “airplanes land on marshmallow clouds,” Saturn’s rings fall in rainbow loops, and sidewalk squares tumble like dominos. It’s a place where mermaids, laughing hyenas, and spiders made of diamonds play, and an enormous lollipop disappears “in a billion licks.” The book features a series of vignettes with brief text serving as a design element in the exuberant, full-color illustrations by Wei, curving around images or set as short vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines. The pattern of the author’s word pictures isn’t consistent, some expressed in rhyme and some in free verse, but the inventive theater-of-the-mind imagery is alternately soulful, humorous, and intriguing (“Words on signs rearrange to tell secrets”). The full-page watercolor, acrylic, and paper-and-fabric collage illustrations are rich with details to explore: A window curtain pulls back, revealing a night sky swirling with moths, stars, comets, seed pods, flowers, and a tiny black cat poised beside a miniature rainbow; and a graceful deer bends to drink from a river, belly glowing with “swallowed fireflies.”
Eye filling and eclectic, this is an imagination-stirring bedtime treat for young children.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2024
ISBN: 979-8218329204
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Empyrean Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 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
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