The lion atop the Eiffel Tower, mane blowing in the wind, captures the essence of this artful, whimsical delight.
This oversized book about a bored young lion who visits Paris to find “a job, love and a future” is worth every bit of paper and ink.
The book opens vertically, with sparse, large-type text on each top page and complex artwork below. The sturdiness of the paper allows young hands to turn pages repeatedly and to pore over each carefully rendered illustration, a lion’s share of mixed media that includes architectural renderings of Parisian hot spots, tiny photographs of people and, on every page, the large protagonist, sporting a huge bushlike mane and a great variety of engagingly human expressions. As the lion roams Paris, he is unhappy about the lack of attention he draws, even when he roars. He hits rock bottom when a rainstorm turns him “grey and shiny like the roofs around him.” But urban apathy eventually subsides, and love comes in the form of a young girl’s adoring eyes, which follow him. (Only the youngest of viewers will lose the joke: That lover is the Mona Lisa.) The lion soon finds his job and his future, with vocabulary that refuses to condescend: A plinth in the middle of a square offers him his perfect vocation. Children will feel more sophisticated than the lion, who makes such mistakes as confusing baguettes with swords.
The lion atop the Eiffel Tower, mane blowing in the wind, captures the essence of this artful, whimsical delight. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: March 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-84976-171-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tate/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
This should send Dark Knight fans flying to the Batcave—or the bedroom.
Holy bedtime, Batman!
In a sleepy-looking neighborhood under a dusky cerulean sky, a young, brown-haired, white boy goes through the motions of getting ready for bed: he brushes his teeth, takes a bath, picks up his toys, and feeds his fish. In a parallel visual narrative, beckoned by the cat's-eye–yellow bat-signal, Batman keeps Gotham safe for another night by catching crooks, locking them away, and avenging those who have been wronged. Though the two characters are quite different, through a carefully flexible narrative, Dahl and Beavers weave a convincing tale of just how similar they might be. “It’s time to take care of business” describes the child’s trip to the potty and Batman’s dive down a manhole equally well, for instance. Beavers' art is visually striking and vibrantly hued, perfect for keeping young eyes glued to each page. Dahl's economical text is cadenced with a gentle lilt, just right for a bedtime read-aloud. Young fans of the caped crusader will delight in spying their favorite characters. In the already-overstuffed bedtime-book market, this is certainly a niche read, but it hits its mark well, delivering fun without darkness. A “bedtime checklist” at the end aptly includes “story time.”
This should send Dark Knight fans flying to the Batcave—or the bedroom. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62370-732-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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