A short and sweet journey of self-discovery.
Are You My Mother? meets “The Ugly Duckling” as a young dragon tries to figure out who he is.
After a rather large red egg appears overnight in Mama Duck’s nest, she’s surprised but determined to love all her ducklings, no matter how different they may be. When the eggs hatch, three of her four children quack and float as expected, but the horned and spiny Nort snorts, and he sinks when he attempts to swim, to the amusement of the other animals at the pond. “Maybe you’re not one of those Quacking Ducklings,” says Piper, a kindly bird. “Maybe you are an Oinking Duckling.” Piper takes Nort on a tour of the various other mooing and clucking “ducklings” in the area, but each interaction leaves poor Nort feeling more disconsolate than ever. When a threat appears at the pond, Nort has a chance to shine, gathering his courage, drawing on hidden talents, and saving the day. Though this work of graphic fiction is brief, intriguing bits of foreshadowing nevertheless keep the story flowing toward its fiery conclusion as Nort snorts and chokes his way through various barnyard encounters. Nort’s catlike design lends itself to some endearing poses, and Piper’s endless social connections and repeated refrain of “follow me” will elicit chuckles right up until book’s end.
A short and sweet journey of self-discovery. (how to read comics with kids, Lexile information) (Graphic fiction. 5-7)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9781662665332
Page Count: 36
Publisher: TOON Books/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
The premise is worn gossamer thin, and the joke stopped being funny, if it ever was, long ago.
A fairy tending their garden manages to survive a gaggle of young intruders.
In halting cadences typical of the long-running—and increasingly less amusing—How To Catch… series, the startled mite—never seen face-on in Elkerton’s candy-colored pictures and indeterminate of gender—wonders about the racially diverse interlopers: “Do they know that I can grant wishes? / Or that a new fairy is born when they giggle?” The visual action rather belies the sweetness of the verses, the palette, the bright flowers, and the multicolored resident zebras and unicorns, as after repeated, elaborately designed efforts to trap or even shoot (with a peashooter) the fairy come to naught, the laughing children are escorted out of the garden beneath a rising moon. The encounter ends on a (perhaps unconsciously) ominous note. “Hope they find their way back sometime,” the butterfly-winged narrator concludes. “And just maybe next time they’ll stay!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The premise is worn gossamer thin, and the joke stopped being funny, if it ever was, long ago. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728263205
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages.
Never underestimate the chaotic fun that magic and an angry bouncing ball can create.
When Frog goes to the library, he borrows a book on magic. He then heads to a nearby park to read up on the skills necessary to becoming “a great magician.” Suddenly, a deflated yellow ball lands with a “Thud!” at his feet. Although he flexes his new magician muscles, Frog’s spells fall as flat as the ball. But when Frog shouts “Phooey!” and kicks the ball away, it inflates to become a big, angry ball. The ball begins to chase Frog, so he seeks shelter in the library—and Frog and ball turn the library’s usual calm into chaos. The cartoon chase crescendos. The ball bounces into the middle of a game of chess, interrupts a puppet show, and crashes into walls and bookcases. Staying just one bounce ahead, Frog runs, hides, grabs a ride on a book cart, and scatters books and papers as he slides across the library furniture before an alligator patron catches the ball and kicks it out the library door. But that’s not the end of the ball….Caple’s tidy panels and pastel-hued cartoons make a surprisingly effective setting for the slapstick, which should have young readers giggling. Simple sentences—often just subject and verb—with lots of repetition propel the action. Frog’s nonsense-word spells (“Poof Wiffle, Bop Bip!”) are both funny and excellent practice in phonetics. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Fast and furious action guaranteed to keep new readers laughing and turning pages. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4341-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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