Further foolish fun.
Will Eric and Mini-Dragon Pan have to say goodbye?
Pan the Mini-Dragon is an excellent party planner; he proves it by planning a surprise anniversary party for Eric’s parents but then vanishes during the party. When Eric finds his little dragon buddy, Pan seems sad. The Encyclopedia Dragonica indicates Mini-Dragons need companionship—including that of their families. Eric and his human friends Min and Jayden discover that there is a way for Pan to contact his parents, but only adults know how to use the special codes that enable worldwide Mini-Dragon communication. Turns out they are just email addresses, and the group contacts Pan’s parents, who are none too pleased that Pan is staying with humans instead of his aunt and uncle, whom he is supposed to be visiting. A wet-suited Aunt Maria and Uncle Fernando show up via the toilet (hence the title) and demand that Pan join them in Mexico, where they will see to his education. Can Eric and his friends convince Pan’s parents that Pan is where he needs to be? Fans of Pan and Eric’s earlier adventures (There’s a Dragon in My Dinner! and There’s a Dragon in My Backpack!, both 2019) will enjoy this follow-up, which publishes simultaneously with the camping-trip adventure There’s a Dragon in My Boot! Eric and his family are white; Min is Chinese; Jayden is black. As part of the Americanization of these Scottish imports, the setting has been relocated to the States.
Further foolish fun. (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68010-181-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A surprisingly nuanced lesson set in confidence-building, easy-to-decode text.
A unicorn learns a friendship lesson in this chapter-book series opener.
Unicorn Bo has friends but longs for a “bestie.” Luckily, a new unicorn pops into existence (literally: Unicorns appear on especially starry nights) and joins Bo at the Sparklegrove School for Unicorns, where they study things like unicorn magic. Each unicorn has a special power; Bo’s is granting wishes. Not knowing what his own might be distresses new unicorn Sunny. When the week’s assignment is to earn a patch by using their unicorn powers to help someone, Bo hopes Sunny will wish to know Bo's power (enabling both unicorns to complete the task, and besides, Bo enjoys Sunny’s company and wants to help him). But when the words come out wrong, Sunny thinks Bo was feigning friendship to get to grant a wish and earn a patch, setting up a fairly sophisticated conflict. Bo makes things up to Sunny, and then—with the unicorns friends again and no longer trying to force their powers—arising circumstances enable them to earn their patches. The cheerful illustrations feature a sherbet palette, using patterns for texture; on busy pages with background colors similar to the characters’ color schemes, this combines with the absence of outlines to make discerning some individual characters a challenge. The format, familiar to readers of Elliott’s Owl Diaries series, uses large print and speech bubbles to keep pages to a manageable amount of text.
A surprisingly nuanced lesson set in confidence-building, easy-to-decode text. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-32332-0
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
The premise is worn gossamer thin, and the joke stopped being funny, if it ever was, long ago.
A fairy tending their garden manages to survive a gaggle of young intruders.
In halting cadences typical of the long-running—and increasingly less amusing—How To Catch… series, the startled mite—never seen face-on in Elkerton’s candy-colored pictures and indeterminate of gender—wonders about the racially diverse interlopers: “Do they know that I can grant wishes? / Or that a new fairy is born when they giggle?” The visual action rather belies the sweetness of the verses, the palette, the bright flowers, and the multicolored resident zebras and unicorns, as after repeated, elaborately designed efforts to trap or even shoot (with a peashooter) the fairy come to naught, the laughing children are escorted out of the garden beneath a rising moon. The encounter ends on a (perhaps unconsciously) ominous note. “Hope they find their way back sometime,” the butterfly-winged narrator concludes. “And just maybe next time they’ll stay!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
The premise is worn gossamer thin, and the joke stopped being funny, if it ever was, long ago. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728263205
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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