A tale of encouragement and gumption, simplified to the point of losing its characterization.
Even mythological creatures can be shy.
Cy—he is the hairy gentleman with one big eye and a three-headed dog—is good at making things: toys, helmets, fireworks. But friends? Not so much. Cy would like friends, though, as Stephens’ writes in her minimal, plainspoken narrative. To make a friend requires venturing out of the comfortable confines of the workshop and meeting strangers—or, in Cy’s case, other strange, mythological creatures. His first attempts are awkward: a little too much teeth-gritted confidence and desperate eye contact. Without any preamble or segue, Cy decides that a good way to make friends is to have something to share. True enough. He fashions a chariot built for two, which, in Subisak’s playful artwork, Cy rattles over hill and through dale to master. Next time in town, Cy’s humble, accomplished at the art of eye contact, and soon in flight with a phoenix, which has thoughtfully shared a spare pair of wings to give the chariot lift. The wrinkles in continuity—how did Cy come up with the idea of sharing?—gloss over discovering actual tools on the road to friendship. Yet the lesson in generosity never goes wrong. On the other hand, the rear-endpaper introduction to various mythological creatures—some very obscure: Rtatoskr, the Teumessian fox—feels like an afterthought.
A tale of encouragement and gumption, simplified to the point of losing its characterization. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62979-578-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Mixed metaphors cloud the power of this familiar message.
A vibrant neighborhood loses its color, literally, as the community becomes fractured.
Color is not a subtle metaphor in this story of a time when “the colors were swept from our street,” told by an unnamed boy with pale skin. Initially, loose-lined illustrations depict a lively city block in bright hues, but as the “sounds became quieter,” the colors begin to fade. Then, after a violent storm of jagged yellow streaks and bursts of fiery sparks, the color is completely gone. Not only are the city and its residents now composed only of cartoony black lines, but on the ground there is a dark rupture (another line) that divides the neighborhood. In one illustration, the boy stands on one side of the split while a girl with dark skin stands on the other. Is the rift a racial one? The next illustration shows the same children indoors, waving at each other through their windows. Does this “empty sadness” that lasts a year represent the Covid-19 pandemic? Is the emphasis on lines a commentary on society’s disconnectedness? Unfortunately, this year any of these interpretations could be true, and the myriad possibilities dilute a clear message. Nevertheless, the boy decides to do the hard work of clearing the rubble the storm left behind, and as neighbors join in to help, smiles and laughter return, bringing, predictably, the color back.
Mixed metaphors cloud the power of this familiar message. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2690-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
A sweet, if oft-told, story.
A plush toy rabbit bonds with a boy and watches him grow into adulthood.
The boy receives the blue bunny for his birthday and immediately becomes attached to it. Unbeknownst to him, the ungendered bunny is sentient; it engages in dialogue with fellow toys, giving readers insight into its thoughts. The bunny's goal is to have grand adventures when the boy grows up and no longer needs its company. The boy spends many years playing imaginatively with the bunny, holding it close during both joyous and sorrowful times and taking it along on family trips. As a young man, he marries, starts a family, and hands over the beloved toy to his toddler-aged child in a crib. The bunny's epiphany—that he does not need to wait for great adventures since all his dreams have already come true in the boy's company—is explicitly stated in the lengthy text, which is in many ways similar to The Velveteen Rabbit (1922). The illustrations, which look hand-painted but were digitally created, are moderately sentimental with an impressionistic dreaminess (one illustration even includes a bunny-shaped cloud in the sky) and a warm glow throughout. The depiction of a teenage male openly displaying his emotions—hugging his beloved childhood toy for example—is refreshing. All human characters present as White expect for one of the boy’s friends who is Black.
A sweet, if oft-told, story. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72825-448-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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