Inspired perhaps by the superhuman leaps in martial arts or Spiderman movies, Taylor and Ingman follow a champion trampoliner dubbed the “Great Elastic Marvel” as he inadvertently catapults himself out of a high window, then narrowly escapes one deadly fall after another thanks to a pile of mattresses, an awning, and other conveniently placed springy surfaces. Ingram goes for a postmodern, Maira Kalman look, creating variously canted aerial scenes with swaths of violently contrasting color, compressed perspectives, and flat figures delineated by just a few strokes of pen or brush. His art offers some visual energy, but it never quite matches the stomach-dropping vertigo awaiting viewers of Mordicai Gerstein’s Man Who Walked Between the Towers (2003). Having soared all over town, Great Elastic Marvel flies back through his window, crash-lands, and is last seen bouncing merrily through a hospital ward, impeded not at all by a plaster fanny-cast. You just can’t keep a good trampolinist down—but that sense of wild motion isn’t quite there. Good premise, but perhaps more suited to film than paper. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-7636-2475-6
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thanks to parrot-toting Braidbeard and his gloriously disreputable crew, a lad discovers the ups and downs of a pirate’s life in this rousing mini-epic. His mom and dad busy on another part of the beach, young Jeremy happily joins a band of hook-handed, eye-patched, snaggle-toothed pirates aboard their ship, learning pirate table manners (none), enjoying a game of nautical soccer until a shark eats the ball, then happily retiring without having to brush teeth, or even don pajamas. But then Jeremy learns that pirates don’t get tucked in, or get bedtime stories, and as for good night kisses—Avast! Worse yet, no one offers comfort when a storm hits. So, giving over the pirate’s life, Jeremy shows the crew where to bury its treasure (his backyard), and bids them goodbye. Shannon outfits Braidbeard’s leering, pop-eyed lot in ragged but colorful pirate dress, and gives his young ruffian-in-training a belt and bandanna to match. This isn’t likely to turn pirate wannabees into landlubbers, but it will inspire a chorus of yo-ho-hos. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-201848-4
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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