A poignant testament to the power of story.
Love—and mermaid magic—help a young girl keep her grandmother’s memories alive.
Alina and Granny live in a lighthouse, which Alina operates; Granny has grown “too old” to do so. At night, over tea, Granny tells Alina tales of mermaids, but her memories are fading and, with them, the stories. Alina wishes she could do something to preserve them. One day a mermaid appears and invites Alina to swim “through swirling, whirling tides, to where your Granny’s stories are, and many more besides.” Alina bravely follows through seaweed forests and past sunken ships until they reach “a city filled with endless light,” where the merfolk keep stories in an ever-flowing well. The mermaid gives Alina some of Granny’s stories, and Alina realizes that the best way to preserve stories is to share them. She pours the stories into the lighthouse lamp, projecting them across the night sky. Granny and Alina are content, knowing that the stories will live on. This gentle narrative is presented in slightly uneven verse, with some distracting word choices (“pirate chiefs” rather than “captains,” for instance). Both Granny’s memory loss and the resolution feel somewhat simplified, though the bond between the two is heartfelt. The graceful, tangerine- and teal-hued images are appealing, and fans of merfolk will enjoy poring over the visuals. Granny and Alina are brown-skinned, and the mermaid is light-skinned; other merfolk are diverse in skin tone.
A poignant testament to the power of story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9781547614349
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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