While full of warmth, this picture book unfortunately loses sight of its young audience.
When Olive discovers “all the lost things” in a mysterious place beneath the city, she decides to bring back hope, memory, and humor for those above.
Alone for a walk in a busy city, young Olive hears a “peculiar sound” emanating from an open manhole. Curious, Olive climbs down to discover a little old lady who organizes “all the lost things from all over the city.” Boxes and boxes and boxes are stacked up, labeled with the expected (pencils, phones) and the unexpected (will power, appetite). Debut author/illustrator Canby’s handwritten text and playfully childlike illustrations blend together nicely. Children will enjoy the way Olive takes matters into her own hands, scooping up a jarful of memory to help her grandfather; however, young readers may have trouble understanding the intangible things that people have lost: nerve, energy, temper. When Olive brings back a jar bursting with hope, the resulting goodwill is reflected only in happy colors and speech bubbles; newly hopeful humans are nowhere to be seen—a missed opportunity to include a diverse range of characters in this otherwise all-white book. Moreover, the book doesn’t leave the realm of metaphor. Spreading hope is important, but readers are not given a sense of how they might do this themselves.
While full of warmth, this picture book unfortunately loses sight of its young audience. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4413-1804-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peter Pauper Press
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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