An overall unremarkable entry in the growing number of picture books championing girl power.
A tale about the transformative power of imagination and self-confidence.
Liesel loves visiting Grandma Rose because adventure is never more than the clutch of her grandmother’s old ladle away. Today, the ladle and Liesel’s imagination take her to an island that’s simultaneously inhabited by pirates, terrorized by a dragon, and threatened by an active volcano. She’s determined to save the day, and indeed she does, at least temporarily: She plugs the active volcano with a gigantic coconut, preventing it from erupting. However, the obstacles in her path are disappointingly one-dimensional, as the pirate captain and dragon who question what a “wee girl” like Liesel is capable of both back down quickly once she asserts that “THERE’S NOTHING WEE ABOUT ME!” The text’s repetition of the word “wee” feels out of place within the contemporary setting and in the face of Liesel’s confidence. Similarly, Liesel’s choice of a ladle, of all things, could imply either a reinforcement or a reclaiming of spaces and tools stereotypically associated with women. Grandma Rose’s somewhat dismissive attitude of Liesel’s confidence suggests that her choice of a ladle is less than radical. While the text often tells rather than shows, the soft, sketchy illustrations actively support the text by providing additional visual information. The three human characters all have pale skin and light-colored hair while the island residents appear as anthropomorphic lions, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and turtles.
An overall unremarkable entry in the growing number of picture books championing girl power. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62414-692-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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