A playful retelling of a classic folk tale, winningly illustrated.
What makes a gingerbread boy run amok the way he does?
One early morning Shirley can’t seem to find a dessert for her school lunch. Inspiration soon strikes. “I know! I’ll bake up something nice.” Once she takes her gingerbread treat out of the oven, she wickedly bites off a piece of his thumb. The gingerbread boy naturally doesn’t like having his digit chewed off. Hurt, he eats Shirley’s lunch as retaliation, and soon the little runaway is off through colorful San Francisco neighborhoods, snacking on anything he can get his hands on: plums and lollipops, dog bones and steaks. Kleven excels at framing her gingerbread boy’s rampage within kaleidoscope vistas. Each spread radiates vibrant, multicultural life (including a racially ambiguous, brown-skinned protagonist), and they are filled with curves, swivels, and diagonal lines to echo the gingerbread boy’s riotous behavior. At times, the story appears confined by the rhyming scheme, jamming in jarring elements (such as “a blouse, a tower, and a mouse”) to keep up appearances, but it also leads to some creative felicities. Fueled by his minor success so far, the gingerbread boy refuses to give in, exclaiming, “And if you try to make me stop, / I’ll swallow the sun like a butterscotch drop!” Only Shirley’s promise of friendship can help quiet his wounded heart.
A playful retelling of a classic folk tale, winningly illustrated. (recipe, landmark index) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-59714-352-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Heyday
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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
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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