Stunning, jewel-toned illustrations in gouache and chalk pastel on mixed-media paper bring a young boy’s imagination to life in this riveting tale. Left on his own on a hot day when the other villagers would rather be napping, Pocu finds a peacock feather in the forest and waves it, creating an imaginary playmate. The first wave makes the air cool; the second makes the flowers bloom; and the third creates “a great murmuring shadow” that speaks, asking for eyes, paws, body, tail, and stripes. The somnolent swishing of the feather in the dark forest coupled with the shadow’s seemingly innocent requests lull readers into the game; but soon the shadow reveals its true identity: a fierce, hungry tiger. Pocu is frightened until he remembers to use his feather. Each wave this time removes claws, paws, and tail, until Pocu finds himself alone again; now it is suppertime and he can go back to the village and join his family. Soft-focus illustrations in intense jades, blues, and browns evoke the deep forest setting; the peacock feather in a shimmery rainbow of colors stands out brightly. The tiger, first nothing but a dark swish, grows into a huge orange creature; the spread showing its ferocious face with its bared fangs is terrifying. Those who have scared themselves thinking about what might be lurking in the basement, in the attic, or out in the woods, will recognize the fun of make-believe fright as well as the welcome realization that the same force that created them can tame the beasts of the imagination. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-399-22633-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2002
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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