A fresh take on tooth-fairy lore.
Becoming a tooth fairy involves visits to many toothy creatures.
Tate, the titular tooth fairy–in-training, narrates the rhyming text as her big sister, May, teaches her how to retrieve kids’ teeth and leave them coins. The twist, telegraphed by the undersea imagery in the cover art, comes when May brings Tate to a lake because a “baby hippo needs a visit. / Not every child’s a human, is it?” Brave Tate perseveres through visits to a crocodile, a fierce-looking seal, and “a MASSIVE anaconda,” her expressive, light-brown face betraying the jitters underlying her bravery. The last visit is to a human child. “A little girl. I can’t go wrong,” narrates Tate, so of course, this is where drama ensues. It’s light drama, however, befitting the gentle, cartoon style of the illustrations, which give characters’ facial features a look similar to Crockett Johnson’s Harold (of purple-crayon fame). “I had to get caught by Melissa… / a doll-collecting fairy kisser,” Tate laments as she squirms in wakeful, white-appearing Melissa’s hands, the backdrop a bedroom filled with fairy dolls, a dollhouse, and other whimsical toys and décor. Tate’s magic wand does the trick of getting Melissa back to sleep, and then she and May return home, triumphant, to rest up for their next trip.
A fresh take on tooth-fairy lore. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0939-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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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