Still, a delicious tone and the perfect illustrator are sure to make this a beloved story in many a household (odd ending or...
A sweet disposition combined with a penchant for mass destruction drives this sweet if mildly flawed tale of a nanny and her overly enthusiastic young charge.
Despite the girl's mother’s warnings, Martha May’s latest nanny, Miss Harrington-Chive, is sure that the two will get along swimmingly. Instead, the older woman quickly learns that to take your eyes off of Martha for more than two seconds is to invite catastrophe. The story is regularly punctuated by the titular cries of “Martha, No!” as the child scales dino skeletons, digs tunnels and, ultimately, flies away with a clump of balloons—back into her mother’s waiting arms. Martha’s saving grace is that her chaos is inspired less by a desire to be naughty and more out of honest curiosity about the world around her. Allwright is conscious of this fact from the get-go, her Martha charming in her innocence rather than her destruction. The art is a large percentage of the fun, encompassing everything from dramatic teacup balancing to brass-band hijinks. Everything works quite beautifully until the ending, which resolves by indicating that mothers of nannied children apparently hand them off to strangers on a whim rather than a necessity.
Still, a delicious tone and the perfect illustrator are sure to make this a beloved story in many a household (odd ending or no). (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60684-266-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
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
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way.
A young boy sees things a little differently than others.
Noah can see patterns in the dust when it sparkles in the sunlight. And if he puts his nose to the ground, he can smell the “green tang of the ants in the grass.” His most favorite thing of all, however, is to read. Noah has endless curiosity about how and why things work. Books open the door to those answers. But there is one question the books do not explain. When the wind comes whistling by, where does it go? Noah decides to find out. In a chase that has a slight element of danger—wind, after all, is unpredictable—Noah runs down streets, across bridges, near a highway, until the wind lifts him off his feet. Cowman’s gusty wisps show each stream of air turning a different jewel tone, swirling all around. The ribbons gently bring Noah home, setting him down under the same thinking tree where he began. Did it really happen? Worthington’s sensitive exploration leaves readers with their own set of questions and perhaps gratitude for all types of perspective. An author’s note mentions children on the autism spectrum but widens to include all who feel a little different.
An invitation to wonder, imagine and look at everything (humans included) in a new way. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-60554-356-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Redleaf Lane
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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