A visually pleasing revision of a story that will make readers long for the bears.
An old tale with a new facade.
In this unusual version of the familiar tale, Goldilocks, in fact, isn’t (she has beaded black hair that sticks straight up), and the bears are rhinos—perhaps because Rankin is South African, and South Africa does have rhinos but no bears. Her anthropomorphic beasts walk upright and yet reinforce traditional gender stereotypes: Papa is gentle with his kid but angry at the intruder; Mama is surprised and fearful; Baby whines loudly, emphasized by the one-word-per-line text that increases in font and frequency of exclamation points as he frets. Had Rankin capitalized on the differences between rhinos and bears (horns vs. no horns; herbivores vs. omnivores; thick skin vs. hairy pelt) to alter the story, this could have been a clever retelling. Instead, the beautiful, detailed illustrations, which have the look of ink and watercolor, far outshine the story, offering a lively picture of the rhinos’ home, with plenty of white space to inspire readers’ imaginations. Most troubling, though, is brown-skinned Goldilocks’ beaded hair; if this is an attempt to cast her as a child of color—thereby spinning it as a multicultural story—even that falls short since beaded hair goes down, not up, making Goldilocks’ hair quite a curiosity.
A visually pleasing revision of a story that will make readers long for the bears. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62371-916-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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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