Sweet characters, skillful storytelling, and knockout illustrations.
A monarch and his husband long for a baby girl of their own—sparking an arduous search—in this picture book.
In their tiny castle, King Phillip the Good and his “elegant husband, The Most Excellent Don Carlos Emiliano Felipe de Compañero y Campañero,” live happily together. At 8 o’clock every night, Don Carlos can toll the bell and report: “All is assuredly well. / Most assuredly well.” But one day, Phillip realizes that “we need a little princess, a tiny baby girl!” For many nights, the king wishes on the Blue Star for a princess to appear, but without result. But one day, Phillip sees the star beckoning him to follow it through the woods. Understanding he must earn his daughter, the monarch embarks on a dangerous journey. At last the star leads him to a fairy circle where a perfect baby girl sleeps. He and Don Carlos are overjoyed, and again all is well in the kingdom. Gore (Inclusion Strategies for Secondary Classrooms, 2010, etc.) and debut author Wilson offer a charming fable with an effective fairy-tale cadence; the king’s struggles in the forest (he even wrestles a bear) echo the real-life difficulties of adoption, surrogacy, and similar steps toward creating a family. Adoptees should appreciate how desired the baby is, and Phillip’s and Don Carlos’ mutual affection remains touching. The Arthur Rackham–like images in lavender-blue tones by debut illustrator Trotter are a gorgeous, striking plus, beautifully detailed with flower, bird, vine, and fruit motifs.
Sweet characters, skillful storytelling, and knockout illustrations.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9998880-0-1
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Camille Lancaster Literary Children's Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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