The art pops—and pops up.
Insect friends find ways of coping with each other’s differences.
As with Llenas’ The Color Monster (2018), the magnificent art will prove a stronger draw than the sketchy storyline. Ralph is a “roly-poly” with a hard shell, a gift for camouflage, and a preference for being in charge. Rita is a firefly—quick, flashy, and extroverted. At first such differences don’t matter, but in time they prove irritating enough to lead to a brief falling-out. With the willingness to make a few accommodations, though, the two find their relationship strong enough to survive and flower into, at the end, a closing smooch. Gatefolds, inset booklets, immense multilayered pop-ups that seem to burst up as they open, and pull tabs that create big, broad movements enhance illustrations created from layers and assemblages of large and small cut-paper bits, all further energized with transparent colors and added scribbly lines. Though Ralph and Rita have buglike attributes, they look like humans (both white) in costumes. Younger audiences will likely pay more attention to the tabs and pop-ups than the theme, but both pals are drawn with large, expressive faces that make it easy to track the ins and outs of their close, if occasionally stressed, relationship.
The art pops—and pops up. (Pop-up picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4549-3950-4
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thought-inspiring approach.
A little girl’s sensitivity to childhood banter is assuaged with the help of her resourceful mom, who provides an inventive tool for interpreting altered meaning.
When kindergartner Nora is insulted by a classmate’s comment about her “flamingo legs,” mother gives her a magic wand to look through in order to see people’s thoughts as they speak. Using a photo-collaged–in pink soap-bubble wand like a pair of fancy spectacles, Nora sees not only the traditional speech bubbles with everyone’s commentary, but also a soap bubble with a more insightful thought, thus reading the mind of each person. For example, when a little boy states, “I’m hungry,” his accompanying thought bubble says, “I want some chocolate.” When Nora’s animal-loving friend Harry calls her “flamingo legs,” she sees his thoughts as, “When you’re around, everything looks pink. I know what a flamingo is! I’m so smart.” Armed with this ability to hear between the lines and infer meaningful interpretations, Nora gains confidence and realizes that the key to social interactions is understanding that what people say aloud is not always what they really think. Essential to completing the concept in this Israeli import is the striking collage art created with cream-hued paints over a Hebrew newspaper and curvy-lined crayon drawings filled in with rosy pinks and indigo for Nora and Harry respectively.
A thought-inspiring approach. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59270-120-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
A toothy, toothsome tale—if stronger on wish-fulfillment than feasible bully-fooling.
In this pointed prehistoric episode, little Jackson, derisively dubbed a “tinysaur,” defends a jar of jelly beans from a dino-bully.
Jackson’s warning that the jelly beans belong to his “really, really, really big friend” prompts only scoffing from his glowering assailant. Sarcastically declaring himself “really, really, really scared,” the increasingly angry bully demonstrates various feats of strength, each of which Jackson dismisses: “Everyone knows my friend can eat show-offs like you for breakfast.” This claim turns out to be (more or less) true, as the rolling green hills on which the confrontation has been taking place are revealed on the climactic spread to be the back of Jackson’s monstrous buddy after the “cave” into which the bully runs closes with a “SNAP!” Fortunately, the monster turns out to be a vegetarian and releases his chastened victim. The episode, illustrated with big, simple cartoons in jelly-bean colors and related in lines of variously sized large type, ends with all three dinosaurs amicably sharing the candy, “One for him…And one for you…AND ONE FOR ME!”
A toothy, toothsome tale—if stronger on wish-fulfillment than feasible bully-fooling. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-58925-123-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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