Early readers should enjoy this gentle picture book’s fantasy elements and its message of sibling harmony, all delivered...
A little boy comes up with outlandish ways to protect a “treasure” in Fegan’s (The Grumpface, 2017) picture book, illustrated by Wen (The Play Tent of Imagination, 2016, etc.).
The dynamic between siblings, a frequent theme in children’s books, receives an entertaining treatment here. Henry, a young Caucasian boy, is determined to prevent his sibling, Lucy, from getting her hands on his “treasure,” or pocket money. Mom advises Henry to put his money in the bank—and to be nicer to his sister—but Henry wants a more foolproof plan, as he’s sure that Lucy has “secret ninja” talents. Pencil in hand, he designs a 10-step scheme, introducing young readers to ordinal numbers. The plan grows ever wackier, featuring giant robots, a fire-breathing dragon, and assorted monsters and superheroes. Wen whimsically depicts these flights of fancy in pencil and digital paint via two-page spreads and small, stand-alone images. Lucy seems to break through every elaborate trap (although, in reality, she merely enters Henry’s room). What she really wants, and Henry’s reaction to this revelation, provides a touching tribute to the fact that siblings can get along and genuinely care for each other—a message that isn’t always apparent in family entertainment.
Early readers should enjoy this gentle picture book’s fantasy elements and its message of sibling harmony, all delivered with a light, humorous touch.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9953592-4-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: TaleBlade
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite.
Humpty Dumpty, classically portrayed as an egg, recounts what happened after he fell off the wall in Santat’s latest.
An avid ornithophile, Humpty had loved being atop a high wall to be close to the birds, but after his fall and reassembly by the king’s men, high places—even his lofted bed—become intolerable. As he puts it, “There were some parts that couldn’t be healed with bandages and glue.” Although fear bars Humpty from many of his passions, it is the birds he misses the most, and he painstakingly builds (after several papercut-punctuated attempts) a beautiful paper plane to fly among them. But when the plane lands on the very wall Humpty has so doggedly been avoiding, he faces the choice of continuing to follow his fear or to break free of it, which he does, going from cracked egg to powerful flight in a sequence of stunning spreads. Santat applies his considerable talent for intertwining visual and textual, whimsy and gravity to his consideration of trauma and the oft-overlooked importance of self-determined recovery. While this newest addition to Santat’s successes will inevitably (and deservedly) be lauded, younger readers may not notice the de-emphasis of an equally important part of recovery: that it is not compulsory—it is OK not to be OK.
A validating and breathtaking next chapter of a Mother Goose favorite. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-682-6
Page Count: 45
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
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