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STANDING IN FOR LINCOLN GREEN

An imaginative, visually dynamic picture book that playfully touts the advantages—and even pleasures—of just getting things...

Who wouldn’t want a “handy stand-in” to take over life’s most tedious tasks? Lincoln Green, part-time cowboy, calls his mirror reflection You Know Who, and he makes him do you-know-what—the dirty work.

Lincoln Green can “grab some shuteye” and “shoot the breeze” while You Know Who waters the plants, does homework (albeit writing back-to-front as mirror reflections do), tidies up and takes on all the other chores Lincoln Green’s mom says “MUST BE DONE TODAY.” In Mackintosh’s stylized, cartoonish, pencil-sketch drawings, wishful thinking materializes in the most delightful way: Lincoln Green is identifiable as the carefree boy in the “L” sweater, and You Know Who is the industrious boy in the “reverse L” sweater. When You Know Who’s eventual rebellion starts to reflect badly on Lincoln Green, the petulant cowboy throws a boot at the mirror and cracks it. He can rake up the leaves himself! (Or perhaps—“Yip-yarr!”—his neighbor Billy will help rustle them up.) Surprise! Just tackling his tasks head-on proves easier—and more fun—than concocting an elaborate charade to avoid them, surely a lesson for all ages. The story jumps around a bit distractingly, but the premise is intriguing, and the whimsy quotient high, especially for keen-eyed observers.

An imaginative, visually dynamic picture book that playfully touts the advantages—and even pleasures—of just getting things done. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4197-0787-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013

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I WISH YOU MORE

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

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HOME

Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.

Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”

Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.

Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014

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