Ernestine is a sheer delight in this nostalgic, warm memory of a special time and a remote place.
Ernestine lives on a farm in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Her father is away in “the war” (identified in an author’s note as World War II), and her mother is expecting twins very soon. Ernestine’s days are filled with chores, and at night there is warm milk and comfort in Mama’s assurance that Daddy is looking up and seeing the same stars they are viewing. When Mama assigns her the task of bringing two large mason jars of milk to a neighbor family, she is ready for the task. As she makes the trek she hears scary sounds and imagines dangerous animals lying in wait. She reassures herself by shouting her mantra, “I’m five years old and a big girl,” and each time discovers only small, benign creatures instead of fierce beasts. She drops one milk jar, which rolls away, but arrives safely at the neighbor’s home with the remaining one. The lost milk jar is found, containing a delightful surprise, and a joyous breakfast ensues. The author employs lovely lilting language to describe the rural setting. Descriptors of the path’s vagaries are repeated as Ernestine makes her way, taking readers along with her through the “valley of doghobble and devil’s walking stick.” Sutton’s brightly hued watercolor-and-ink illustrations effortlessly convey the time period, setting, and events, and they express Ernestine’s every emotion.
Ernestine is a sheer delight in this nostalgic, warm memory of a special time and a remote place. (recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1484-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, if oft-told, story.
A plush toy rabbit bonds with a boy and watches him grow into adulthood.
The boy receives the blue bunny for his birthday and immediately becomes attached to it. Unbeknownst to him, the ungendered bunny is sentient; it engages in dialogue with fellow toys, giving readers insight into its thoughts. The bunny's goal is to have grand adventures when the boy grows up and no longer needs its company. The boy spends many years playing imaginatively with the bunny, holding it close during both joyous and sorrowful times and taking it along on family trips. As a young man, he marries, starts a family, and hands over the beloved toy to his toddler-aged child in a crib. The bunny's epiphany—that he does not need to wait for great adventures since all his dreams have already come true in the boy's company—is explicitly stated in the lengthy text, which is in many ways similar to The Velveteen Rabbit (1922). The illustrations, which look hand-painted but were digitally created, are moderately sentimental with an impressionistic dreaminess (one illustration even includes a bunny-shaped cloud in the sky) and a warm glow throughout. The depiction of a teenage male openly displaying his emotions—hugging his beloved childhood toy for example—is refreshing. All human characters present as White expect for one of the boy’s friends who is Black.
A sweet, if oft-told, story. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72825-448-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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