Although not the princess corrective some parents may wish for, the book's little lesson is one worth sharing: what's in the...
A fantasy world of perfect princesses gives a young girl a respite from a bad mood.
Romy is having a blah, listless day, the kind when "Romy didn't even want to be Romy." She yearns for a place called Princessland and sets off to find it with help from the Lady Cat. But the Lady Cat's plan is a little oblique. The feline leads Romy through town, from a bakery to the city square to a park, asking her to describe the finer details of Princessland while promising to take her there. "In Princessland…there are balls every night in enormous, airy rooms lined with marble tiles," Romy rhapsodizes as she and the cat listen to a musician at the market and she imagines a ball. By the end of the day, though Romy has described the destination in detail, she's sad to realize the cat hasn't actually taken her there. But of course, the Lady Cat has done just that, pushing Lola to travel by imagination. Expressive paintings blend the Princessland in Romy's head with city scenes as she and Lady Cat explore. Romy is a dark-skinned little girl with long brown hair and blue eyes, and the princesses are racially diverse if otherwise stereotypically froufrou.
Although not the princess corrective some parents may wish for, the book's little lesson is one worth sharing: what's in the mind’s eye is often more lavish and sweet than the real thing could possibly be. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-36115-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 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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