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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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