Absent the romance and magic, fun but slight.
This installment in the new Once Before Time series revisits “Sleeping Beauty,” with all the characters played by dinosaurs.
This pleasant but hardly essential adaptation is loose at best; the dinosaurs are cute and expressive. The wishes bestowed by “fairy friends” upon the protagonist princess, Bronty, are threefold: a long neck, a long tail, and a long life. The final wish comes from a selfish, evil-looking fairy named Rhonda. Rhonda wishes for Bronty to prick her tail on a thorn and fall into a deep sleep, allowing Rhonda to become queen in her stead. The story’s simple declarative statements are easy for little listeners to grasp, though lacking in fairy-tale magic. “Bronty grew up. She had a long neck. She had a long tail. She would be queen soon! / One day Bronty went for a walk. She met a new friend. He did not have a long neck. He did not have a long tail. He did have a lunch basket.” Bronty’s friend, the prince next door, makes a spicy, hiccup-inducing five-bean chili; happily, the chili has no other magical properties. There is a friendship but no love theme; chili and hiccups wake Bronty, not a kiss, medicinal, consensual, or otherwise. Pterapunzel publishes simultaneously; it’s remarkable only for the fact that Pterapunzel saves herself after the witch rashly cuts off her braid and throws it out the window to forestall further visits from the friendly prince.
Absent the romance and magic, fun but slight. (Board book. 1-5)Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5248-5571-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.
Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.
His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1
Page Count: 20
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet reminder that love is best measured in actions.
Even when well-intended plans go awry, sometimes “I love you” is plastered all over one’s face.
Tiny T. Rex wants to make the perfect valentine for friend Pointy, a stegosaurus. It’s a noble ideal, but perfection is more elusive than the little theropod realized. That’s the premise of this charming board book that succinctly celebrates love, friendship, aspiration, perseverance, limitations, and the notion that it’s the thought that counts—especially when it’s clearly reflected in effort. Like its protagonist, this book is small, but it’s rich in value and works on every level. The artwork has an elegant simplicity that beautifully balances color, personality, and clever detail. A panel of Tiny designing the card in chalk on a blackboard, for example, reveals the scale of the little dino’s intentions: a giant heart, ribbons, smaller hearts dangling from springs, heart-shaped balloons, and fireworks, all much larger than Tiny. The project is clearly a labor of love: Tiny sweats, tugging a bucket of paint—“Pointy’s favorite color!”—but the bucket spills on the artist, not the valentine. Trying to make the card “extra fancy,” Tiny is covered in glitter. Tiny rips, snips, and rerips, trying to make the perfect heart; misspells Pointy; and glues springs and hearts all over everything. When Tiny apologizes for having no valentine for Pointy, Pointy recognizes immediately that the perfect valentine is a friend like Tiny.
A sweet reminder that love is best measured in actions. (Board book. 1-5)Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-8489-0
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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