With very careful repeat reads, this challenging tale may pay off, especially if readers choose to put on a play of their...
Personified crayons and a pencil, thespians all, re-enact the cancellation of their book, while Hall fills his story within a story with intrigue, theater, and a whole lot of silly.
An “official notice” greets readers, urging them to abandon this book, while a cancellation stamp mars the title page. When the cast-member crayons realize a reader is turning the page, the pencil breaks the fourth wall and starts to recount what went wrong with their production of Frankencrayon. It began at rehearsal, with a mysterious scribble, which the crayons try to erase but only make bigger. When the play is canceled, three crayons help the scribble to independence by drawing feet and a face. Reflecting on these events, the crayons and pencil realize lessons learned (“Even a messy scribble can be a lovely thing”), and all ends well...until: “Screeeeeetch!” The villain behind the scribble is revealed! Hall, as usual, plays with both narrative and its visual representation. The illustrations are compelling, with cut-paper crayons and a variety of textures and typefaces. However, the stretch to innovate and interact leads to a story composed of many varied parts, which often complicate rather than clarify. And while different types help identify which character is speaking (and when), the textual busyness on top of this visually reductive story can be confusing.
With very careful repeat reads, this challenging tale may pay off, especially if readers choose to put on a play of their own. (dramatis personae) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-225211-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the...
An all-zombie-all-the-time zombiefest, featuring a bunch of grade-school kids, including protagonist Stink and his happy comrades.
This story covers the few days preceding the much-anticipated Midnight Zombie Walk, when Stink and company will take to the streets in the time-honored stiff-armed, stiff-legged fashion. McDonald signals her intent on page one: “Stink and Webster were playing Attack of the Knitting Needle Zombies when Fred Zombie’s eye fell off and rolled across the floor.” The farce is as broad as the Atlantic, with enough spookiness just below the surface to provide the all-important shivers. Accompanied by Reynolds’ drawings—dozens of scene-setting gems with good, creepy living dead—McDonald shapes chapters around zombie motifs: making zombie costumes, eating zombie fare at school, reading zombie books each other to reach the one-million-minutes-of-reading challenge. When the zombie walk happens, it delivers solid zombie awfulness. McDonald’s feel-good tone is deeply encouraging for readers to get up and do this for themselves because it looks like so much darned fun, while the sub-message—that reading grows “strong hearts and minds,” as well as teeth and bones—is enough of a vital interest to the story line to be taken at face value.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5692-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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