These captivating llamas deliver. Readers won’t be bored by this board book! (Board book. 5-8)
What’s this we “See / Sea”? It’s a trendy llama, here to introduce witty pairs of homophones with humor, tactile elements, and a whole lotta flare—erm, flair.
How can a flat green silhouette of a llama be so darned hilarious? Drawn with distinctive perked ears, black dotted eyes, and rectangular body with rounded corners, face deadpan, it’s the very essence of llama. Llama’s hijinks graphically differentiate between the homophones, making them easy to define, such as silvery embossed hoof “prints” trailing behind it on one page and a regally clad “prince” on the other. Coat adds pizzazz as well as contextual clues through a surprising variety of touch-and-feel pieces, among them moving hands on an analog clock marking time on “wait” or a “peek”-aboo baby llama under a lift-the-flap blanket. If it sounds gimmicky, fear not; the book revels in hyperbole. Whether it’s a llama biting a pink “rose,” tango-style, or an emotionless “fairy” with textured, glittery wings, the contrast of flamboyant effects to solemn llamas is audaciously funny. There is a mismatch between format and concept here; homophones are abstract and better suited to older readers than the tot set. Still, there’s a scarcity of quality books about homophones, and the sophisticated humor should beguile big kids. Oversized trim also suits that older audience.
These captivating llamas deliver. Readers won’t be bored by this board book! (Board book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2827-3
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent.
Wouldn’t the same housecat look very different to a dog and a mouse, a bee and a flea, a fox, a goldfish, or a skunk?
The differences are certainly vast in Wenzel’s often melodramatic scenes. Benign and strokable beneath the hand of a light-skinned child (visible only from the waist down), the brindled cat is transformed to an ugly, skinny slinker in a suspicious dog’s view. In a fox’s eyes it looks like delectably chubby prey but looms, a terrifying monster, over a cowering mouse. It seems a field of colored dots to a bee; jagged vibrations to an earthworm; a hairy thicket to a flea. “Yes,” runs the terse commentary’s refrain, “they all saw the cat.” Words in italics and in capital letters in nearly every line give said commentary a deliberate cadence and pacing: “The cat walked through the world, / with its whiskers, ears, and paws… // and the fish saw A CAT.” Along with inviting more reflective viewers to ruminate about perception and subjectivity, the cat’s perambulations offer elemental visual delights in the art’s extreme and sudden shifts in color, texture, and mood from one page or page turn to the next.
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5013-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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