Friendship and supportive verbal encouragement help overcome fearful resistance in this pleasant if not especially...
Learning to fly is a scary idea for Little Iffy, who is a “bitty griffin…part lion and part eagle.”
Just the thought of being up in the air is terrifying. Little Iffy wonders how he would descend and chooses to safely stay down. Eggs Pegasus, Iffy’s flying-horse friend, hatches several plans on the playground to help him take off. He is encouraged to swing high, go down the slide, or be lifted by his friends and to “flap your wings” each time. But the frightened little griffin politely declines all suggestions. “No, thank you. Down is best.” Searching for the safest spot, Iffy sits on “the down-est place he can find”—the seesaw—only to be thrown straight up in the air when his friends, stacked one on top of each other, tumble onto the raised side. “Whoops!” / “Yikes!” Soaring up, Iffy grabs onto a floating red balloon and begins to descend slowly until a bee’s stinger pops it, sending Iffy down much more rapidly. “FLAP YOUR WINGS, LITTLE IFFY!!!” And just like that, Iffy is flying. It’s hardly an original story, but simple, unencumbered dialogue and easy phrasing carry it along, and little listeners may repeat those heartening words of encouragement. Rounded, digital cartoon art of cuddly mythological creatures (there are also a dragon, faun, and unidentifiable blue figure) in pale hues sustain the central message.
Friendship and supportive verbal encouragement help overcome fearful resistance in this pleasant if not especially remarkable tale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5039-3986-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Most young readers, even those in diapers, would agree.
As if the fiery disaster of the first outing (2012) weren’t bad enough, news that the world’s entire supply of tacos has been used up leaves not just the dragons dismayed.
Fortunately, there’s a time machine in the garage, so it might be possible to bring new seed stock for taco trees (didn’t you know?) from the past. Unfortunately, said device is hard to calibrate— first they undershoot back to the previous volume’s spicy-salsa–fueled holocaust and then overshoot to a similar catastrophe in prehistoric times. Subsequent ventures into alternate space-time continua lead to universes where dragons love…diapers (“That’s not right”), and tacos chow down on dragons (“Weird, but closer!”). Then, when the chunky white lad leading the draconic expedition does finally get it right, only the taco in his lap survives the trip back to the present. That’s enough for a happy ending, though, as Salmieri shows in the last of his naïve-style cartoon scenes with a taco party in which dragons and diversely hued figures (some recognizable) from various historical and fantasy realms mingle. “After all,” as Rubin puts it, “dragons love diapers. I mean, tacos. Dragons love tacos. / Heck, everyone loves tacos.”
Most young readers, even those in diapers, would agree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-525-42888-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not exactly dreamy.
Jacob the Sandman befriends the Night Monster when he goes to gather dream sand.
Drescher’s text, translated from German, is heavy on exposition as it tells readers about an evening when the elfin Sandman, Jacob, oversleeps and neglects his duty to sprinkle dream sand over the homes of sleeping children in order to give them good dreams. When he and his helper, Milo the mouse (just a head shorter than Jacob), belatedly arrive at the hilltop to gather the sand, they find the massive, reptilian Night Monster and are afraid until they realize that he’s a misunderstood, kindhearted soul. He says he’s afraid of the dark, and he goes into children’s bedrooms to seek a cozy place for himself, and he never means to scare anyone. Jacob and Milo then welcome the monster to accompany them on their dream-sand–sprinkling mission in their hot air balloon, and after that they welcome him back to Jacob’s cozy home and rename him Albie. The story is every bit as haphazard and meandering as this summary makes it seem, and redundant art does little to elevate it, though the full-bleed, double-page–spread watercolors are better-executed and more appealing than the writing is.
Not exactly dreamy. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78250-525-9
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Floris
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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