A rare treat for sensitive and artistic readers.
The artist Agnes Martin’s childhood and its influences are imaginatively portrayed in this picture book from Canada.
While the author’s note at the end of the book makes clear that the narrative is influenced, but not constrained, by events in Martin’s life, the story does successfully establish a tone that gets at the sensitivity of the famed abstract artist. The language is simple and evocative, and its repetition of phrases grounds its key concept—that beauty exists in the mind—which could have otherwise become too vague for the audience. Agnes is shown as a child growing up in the prairie of Saskatchewan and being introduced to its beauty by her beloved grandfather. Her family’s move to the city challenges Agnes’ need for visual beauty, but again, her grandfather helps her to see the beauty inside. As subtly effective as the narrative is, the illustrations are sublime. Working in the delicacy of watercolor and colored pencil and using negative space prominently, Celej inserts judicious bits of cut collage, the sharply defined edges of which visually heighten the softness of the other media. The result is art that is both soft, emanating visual possibility, and ordered—much like the minimalist work of Martin herself. A palette that modulates from the grays of the city back to the soft colors of the prairie acts as a visual cue to Agnes’ internal artistic flowering. All people shown are illustrated as White.
(This book releases first as a digital edition, with print release currently scheduled for Aug. 4, 2020.)
A rare treat for sensitive and artistic readers. (Picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77306-140-5
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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