by Andrea Stenn Stryer & illustrated by Bert Dodson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2007
A deaf Sherpa lad braves lightning and hail to search for his family’s missing yaks in this handsomely packaged, original tale. A small figure in Dodson’s wide, rocky landscapes, Kami sets out on his own before sunrise to find out why the yaks haven’t come down from the mountain, as is their wont. Eventually he finds them, protecting a young one whose leg is stuck. Despite a hailstorm that makes his trip back home to fetch help a slippery, dangerous one, and then an inability to explain in words to his father and older brother where he has been, he prevails in the end and proudly leads the animals back down the trail. The writing is sometimes pedestrian—“His mittens got wet and icy”—and the hail looks like a gentle snowfall in the pictures, but children will admire the young hero, both for his intrepid spirit, and for his animated use of gesture and playacting to convey the yaks’ plight to his confused family. (afterword) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-9778961-0-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Bay Otter
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2007
Share your opinion of this book
by April Jones Prince & illustrated by François Roca ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2005
Strong rhythms and occasional full or partial rhymes give this account of P.T. Barnum’s 1884 elephant parade across the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge an incantatory tone. Catching a whiff of public concern about the new bridge’s sturdiness, Barnum seizes the moment: “’I will stage an event / that will calm every fear, erase every worry, / about that remarkable bridge. / My display will amuse, inform / and astound some. / Or else my name isn’t Barnum!’” Using a rich palette of glowing golds and browns, Roca imbues the pachyderms with a calm solidity, sending them ambling past equally solid-looking buildings and over a truly monumental bridge—which soars over a striped Big Top tent in the final scene. A stately rendition of the episode, less exuberant, but also less fictionalized, than Phil Bildner’s Twenty-One Elephants (2004), illustrated by LeUyen Pham. (author’s note, resource list) (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-44887-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2005
Share your opinion of this book
More by April Jones Prince
BOOK REVIEW
by April Jones Prince ; illustrated by Christine Davenier
BOOK REVIEW
by April Jones Prince ; illustrated by Christine Davenier
BOOK REVIEW
by April Jones Prince ; illustrated by Bob Kolar
by Cornelia Funke ; illustrated by Kerstin Meyer ; translated by Oliver Latsch ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 23, 2015
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Share your opinion of this book
More by Cornelia Funke
BOOK REVIEW
by Cornelia Funke ; illustrated by Cornelia Funke
BOOK REVIEW
edited by Cornelia Funke
BOOK REVIEW
by Guillermo del Toro & Cornelia Funke ; illustrated by Allen Williams
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.