A lovely, imaginative tale for the young and young at heart.
A young girl’s dreams come true in this imaginative debut children’s book.
Maggie is your typical 7-and-3/4-year old. She’s nearly three inches “taller than average,” which she loves, and she enjoys exploring, using her “jump rope as a lasso,” and mixing various items together—from different kinds of socks to potatoes and peas. One day, she mixes up something that’s just a little bit out of the ordinary: a combination of water, sugar, pink lemonade, and a few other ordinary ingredients. She spills this concoction on a tree in the backyard before she can dump it into her favorite red bucket and, disappointed, heads off to bed. That night, Maggie awakes to a crackling sound and rises to find that her tree is now completely covered in colorful, sweet sprinkles. She collects them in buckets, cups, and jars, plays with them, and eats them until she nearly gets sick. When she wakes the next morning, though, the sprinkles are gone. Or are they? A small, fuzzy squirrel in the backyard may indicate otherwise. Bray’s delightful debut children’s book is appropriate for kids and adults of all ages, and it’s sure to brighten many bedtime rituals. Maggie is a darling, precocious character (without being too much so), and her ingenuity is remarkable. Her story is also relatable—what child doesn’t like to mix up mud pies and play outside all day? The text includes a recipe for the potion that created the sprinkle tree, and young readers may want to mix it up for themselves. They may be disappointed when a sprinkle tree doesn’t result, but industrious parents can surely figure out a way to make some magic of their own. Jackson’s illustrations are wildly imaginative and vivid, and they bring Maggie’s tale, including her amazing botanical creation, to life. Arrows and text that highlight specific portions of the illustrations are a fun touch, and they make each page engaging and enjoyable. Bray and Jackson are a dazzling duo, and additional books in this series would surely be welcome.
A lovely, imaginative tale for the young and young at heart.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0991396207
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Tumbling Acorn Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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