A lovely, poetic, and compassionate tale with appealing images.
This picture book for all ages explores the difficulty of finding connections and meaning.
A curious, alienlike creature with an elephant’s trunk, pointy ears, enormous dark eyes, angel’s wings, and a Santa suit gazes shyly at readers from the first page. Maybe, the work suggests, this is how some of us might imagine an angel. Angels could take other forms, such as animals (so be kind to them). The story then shares a string of thoughtful observations. Our big brains are a gift, but sometimes they make us painfully aware of our loneliness or difference. We’re always hoping to encounter kindred spirits and experience a sense of relationship with the wonders of our existence: “If we are fortunate, we may connect with someone else—another native alien—from time to time.” Sometimes, though, we’re sidetracked or frightened. Even then, “monsters and demons are also creatures of light deep under the water,” with whom we also have a kinship. Curiosity, companionship, and angels in our lives will help us to feel truly at home, in a place where we’re loved and we belong. The tale offers a blessing that can help readers get to that place: “May we always be on the look-out for small, ordinary magic.” In her second picture book, puppeteer and playwright Sawyer tells a charming and lyrical story about the difficulties of and remedies for isolation. Well-chosen quotations from Mary Oliver and David Bowie bracket the tale, their very different styles somehow converging on the theme of imagination’s power to overcome distance. The story’s appreciation for oddity is both moving and hope-giving. The author’s illustrations have the appearance of blue ballpoint-pen lines filled in with gray, grayish-blue, and rich red accent colors. They have a naïve, quirky quality that fits in well with the text.
A lovely, poetic, and compassionate tale with appealing images.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 19
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 18, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
The story’s slight but allows kids to practice identifying and dealing with their own big feelings.
The diverse group of kids from All Are Welcome (2018) this time gathers in a vacant lot with tools in hand to clear the debris and make something new. But therein lies the rub: What should the something new be? While the exact nature of the disagreement is unfortunately not made clear to readers, the big feelings that the children exhibit are very clear (and for readers who need practice reading facial clues, there’s a labeled chart of 15 in the frontmatter). This book’s refrain is “How can I help? / What can we do?” And the answers, spread over several pages and not spelled out in so many words but rather shown in the illustrations, are: talk it through, compromise, and see things from another perspective. As a guide for dealing with feelings and problem-solving, the book is a bit slim and lacks a solid story to hook readers. But, as with its predecessor, its strength is again the diversity on display in its pages. There’s a rainbow of skin tones and hair colors as well as abundant variation in hair texture, several children exhibit visible disabilities, including one child who uses a wheelchair, and there are markers of religious and cultural diversity. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 29.6% of actual size.)
The story’s slight but allows kids to practice identifying and dealing with their own big feelings. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-57974-8
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
bookshelf
