A book with an engaging message that falls short during implementation.
When a child is given a box of crayons and an eraser, they replace bad things with nicer ones, spreading color everywhere.
“Desert” gives way to “roses” and the color red, “darkness” to “light” and the color yellow, and “hunger” to “wheat” and green. The color pairings go beyond a limited set to include sky blue, violet, silver, and others. Their associations with introduced items tickle the imagination but feel forced at times—why, for instance, is “laughter” purple? Readers looking for comfort in patterning will be disappointed by the inconsistency of types of actions in the text: Is the child effecting the change (“I made roses grow”) or just imagining it (“mothers danced and laughed”)? While the creative and simple poem focuses on improving the quality of the world for everybody, some readers may feel that certain concepts (“winter,” for instance, as well as“crying” and, most problematically, “old age”) are bestowed with a negativity they don’t deserve. Stylized, childlike illustrations accompany the introduced colors, with swirls and concentric circles offering unifying ornamentation, but largely fail to convey the positive message of the book, with most of the depicted characters looking unengaged, tired, or distressed. The book’s high point is an exercise for readers at the end, asking them to imagine what they want to change to make the world a better place.
A book with an engaging message that falls short during implementation. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-910328-49-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiny Owl
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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