Tongue-in-cheek fare for post-toddler peekaboo fans.
Peering through a colored filter reveals all sorts of unconventional goings-on within seemingly ordinary homes and other buildings.
The French illustrators return to the gimmick used in their first collaboration, The Great Journey (2016), offering blocky images drawn in thick, bright red lines and patterns that vanish when viewed through a detachable circle of red acetate to reveal pale blue scenes done in a suppler style beneath. Single-line captions running underneath either suggest that there’s nothing much to see (“Everyone is calm, relaxing in their homes, or going about their business”) or, like the revelation that trucker Mrs. Khan is “carrying a package for the Banana-plane factory,” hint at droll revelations. Filtered images include several acrobats, a man shopping for a hat for his dog, a reader comfortably nestled between the humps of a camel, piles of oddly shaped packages in a post office, and (yes) workers polishing up a plane shaped like a giant banana. The journey ends at the zoo…with no animals to be seen. Where have they gone? To previous locales, which viewers are invited to reexamine more closely. Unlike the far more elaborate (and often obscure) three-colored layers in Carnovsky’s Illuminature (2016) and sequels, the underlying art here is easy to make out, and the filter is large enough to use both eyes at once. Human figures are highly stylized but still as white as the stiff paper stock.
Tongue-in-cheek fare for post-toddler peekaboo fans. (Novelty picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-84976-669-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tate/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
A story of friendship that is both lively and lovely
Two friends embark upon a high-seas adventure.
Kondo, a large lemon-colored creature with wide round eyes, spends his day on his island home with his best friend, tangerine-hued Kezumi. Together, they frolic on their idyllic isle picking berries (tall Kondo nabs the higher fruit while Kezumi helps to retrieve the lower) while surrounded by tiny “flitter-birds” and round “fluffle-bunnies.” One day, Kezumi finds a map in a bottle that declares “WE ARE NOT ALONE.” Inspired by visions of a larger world, Kondo and Kezumi fashion a boat from a bathtub and set sail. The pair visits fantastical islands—deliciously cheese-laden Dairy Isle, the fiery and fearsome Fireskull Island—until they eventually settle upon the titular Giant Island, where they meet Albert, a gigantic gray talking mountain who is—obviously—unable to leave. Enthralled by his new friends, Albert wants them to stay forever. After Albert makes a fraught decision, Kondo and Kezumi find themselves at a crossroads and must confront their new friend. Goodner and Tsurumi’s brightly illustrated chapter book should find favor with fans of Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen’s similarly designed Mercy Watson series. Short, wry, descriptive sentences make for an equally enjoyable experience whether read aloud or independently. Episodic chapters move the action along jauntily; the conclusion is somewhat abrupt, but it promises more exploration and adventures for the best friends. (This review was originally published in the June 1, 2019, issue. The book data has been updated to reflect changes in publisher and date of publication.)
A story of friendship that is both lively and lovely (Fantasy. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-368-02577-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965) upgrades to The Mice and the Rolls-Royce.
In Windsor Castle there sits a “dollhouse like no other,” replete with working plumbing, electricity, and even a full library of real, tiny books. Called Queen Mary’s Dollhouse, it also plays host to the Whiskers family, a clan of mice that has maintained the house for generations. Henry Whiskers and his cousin Jeremy get up to the usual high jinks young mice get up to, but when Henry’s little sister Isabel goes missing at the same time that the humans decide to clean the house up, the usually bookish big brother goes on the adventure of his life. Now Henry is driving cars, avoiding cats, escaping rats, and all before the upcoming mouse Masquerade. Like an extended version of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), Priebe keeps this short chapter book constantly moving, with Duncan’s peppy art a cute capper. Oddly, the dollhouse itself plays only the smallest of roles in this story, and no factual information on the real Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is included at the tale’s end (an opportunity lost).
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales. (Fantasy. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6575-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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