With frostbitten friends and witty word sets, this is a freezerful of fun.
Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast become action-adventure stars recruited to track down the villain who has frozen the fridge.
In this third installment, a killer frost has blanketed the fridge foodscape. A tall stranger, Agent Asparagus, comes to town, wielding a Fridge Bureau of Investigation badge, and enlists the aid of the two breakfast royals to find the culprit. Readers are quickly thrown into the arctic action, with kidnappings, a trek into enemy territory, double-crossings, and revenge. Pancake and French Toast seem doomed when a surprising new hero swings to the rescue. Whereas previous installments reveled in the magical refrigerator landscape, Kearney’s illustrations focus here on the animated range of emotions on pastry and Popsicles. Angry bananas? Check. Screaming fruit bars? Legions. The syncopated and clever rhyming couplets keep the pace moving at a neat clip. The vibrant characters are drawn with pencil, digitally colorized, and placed over a muted background, which causes the action to pop. Kindness, a recurring message in this series, returns in a teachable moment, with a confession and an apology breaking the ice. Sometimes a cold shoulder may be a cry for friendship. At the end, a vertical gatefold reveals a delightful wintry wonderland where edible friends and former foes play in the snow.
With frostbitten friends and witty word sets, this is a freezerful of fun. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2811-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn.
A young owl achieves his grand ambition.
Owl, an adorably earnest and gallant little owlet, dreams of being a knight. He imagines himself defeating dragons and winning favor far and wide through his brave exploits. When a record number of knights go missing, Owl applies to Knight School and is surprisingly accepted. He is much smaller than the other knights-in-training, struggles to wield weapons, and has “a habit of nodding off during the day.” Nevertheless, he graduates and is assigned to the Knight Night Watch. While patrolling the castle walls one night, a hungry dragon shows up and Owl must use his wits to avoid meeting a terrible end. The result is both humorous and heartwarming, offering an affirmation of courage and clear thinking no matter one’s size…and demonstrating the power of a midnight snack. The story never directly addresses the question of the missing knights, but it is hinted that they became the dragon’s fodder, leaving readers to question Owl’s decision to befriend the beast. Humor is supplied by the characters’ facial expressions and accented by the fact that Owl is the only animal in his order of big, burly human knights. Denise’s accomplished digital illustrations—many of which are full bleeds—often use a warm sepia palette that evokes a feeling of antiquity, and some spreads feature a pleasing play of chiaroscuro that creates suspense and drama.
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31062-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests.
A lonely prince gains a friend for a quest to find a missing jewel.
Prince Lucas of Wrenly has everything a boy could possibly want—except a friend. His father has forbidden him to play with the village children for reasons of propriety. Adventure-seeking Lucas acquires peasant clothes to masquerade as a commoner and make friends, but he is caught out. His mother, the queen, persuades the king to allow him one friend: Clara, the daughter of her personal dressmaker. When the queen’s prized emerald pendant goes missing, Lucas and Clara set off to find it. They follow the jewel as it changes hands, interviewing each temporary owner. Their adventure cleverly introduces the series’ world and peoples, taking the children to the fairy island of Primlox, the trolls’ home of Burth, the wizard island of Hobsgrove and finally Mermaid’s Cove. By befriending the mermaids, Lucas and Clara finally recover the jewel. In thanks, the king gives Clara a horse of her own so that she may ride with Lucas on their future adventures. The third-person narration is generally unobtrusive, allowing the characters to take center stage. The charming, medieval-flavored illustrations set the fairy-tale scene and take up enough page space that new and reluctant readers won’t be overwhelmed by text.
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9691-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
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