A bit rough around the edges, but anyone who’s ever gotten lost in a book will see themselves in the eponymous protagonist.
No matter where she goes or what she is doing, Little Monster has her nose in a book (or she would if she had a nose).
Depicted as a harmless-looking, white bipedal slug wearing a pink dress, Little Monster reads her way through the playground. Whether she’s hanging upside down on the monkey bars, zooming down the slide, or having a spin on the merry-go-round, nothing can tear her away from the book in her hands. When friends, including a Bee and a Butterfly, join her, she reads to them. She reads while she’s running, dancing to the music from a ladybird’s boom box, eating an ice cream cone, and more. “Will she ever stop?” the third-person narrator asks. No; not until she reads the very last word. Then, once she does, a new question arises: “Now what will she do?” Children must turn the page to discover the humorously obvious answer. With rhyme and steady anaphoric repetition throughout, Purcell’s simple, rhythmic text will likely engage young emergent readers; however, adult book selectors may not be so impressed with this slightly underwhelming offering. Some basic concepts are conveyed—such as positions (top and bottom) and numbers (one and two)—with effective visual scaffolding. The digital illustrations, rendered in a limited palette, are serviceable but not particularly interesting.
A bit rough around the edges, but anyone who’s ever gotten lost in a book will see themselves in the eponymous protagonist. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-80036-026-6
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Tiny Seed
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this.
A lushly illustrated picture book with a troubling message.
Little Lala walks with her father after his successful day of fishing. When Mama calls her home for bed, a host of “good night”s delays her: to the bird, the monkey, and even the rock. As Lala wanders through her village in the darkening twilight, readers appreciate its expansive beauty and Lala’s simple joys. Although it’s been artfully written and richly illustrated by an award-winning author of many multicultural stories, this book has problems that overshadow its beauty. “African veld” sets the story in southern Africa, but its vague locale encourages Americans to think that distinctions among African countries don’t matter. Lala wears braids or locks that stick straight up, recalling the 19th-century pickaninny, and her inconsistent skin color ranges from deep ebony like her father’s to light brown. Shadows may cause some of these differences, but if it weren’t for her identifiable hair, readers might wonder if the same child wanders from page to page. Perhaps most striking of all is Lala’s bedtime story: not an African tale but an American classic. While this might evoke nostalgia in some readers, it also suggests that southern Africa has no comparably great bedtime books for Lala, perhaps in part because American children’s literature dominates the world market.
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-17384-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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