A lively look at a community’s unsung heroes.
A mole embarks on more adventures in this latest installment of a children’s book series.
Mole is back again, meeting the “helpers” in his community and learning everything he can about his neighbors. In the first story in this volume, Mole has a goal that many young ones share—to be a firefighter. He plays with a firetruck before bed, and that inspires dreams of helping put out an inferno at a neighbor’s dwelling. Alongside other firefighters, Mole extinguishes a blaze at Panda’s house down the street, and everyone is quite thankful for his efforts. In another tale, Mole, Molie, and their mother are assisted by Gardener Gina in tending their backyard plot. They plant okra, beans, corn, cauliflower, and more while Mole and Molie learn how gardeners help grow food and cultivate the earth. Next, Mole and his friends Beaver and Beavee are having quite the day in play. But when Beaver trips and hurts his leg, the gang must journey to the doctor, where Mole meets his next community helper. The physician tends to Beaver’s injured leg, and the ice cream afterward helps, too. In the fourth and final episode, Mole meets his local plumber, who helps fix a leak in the garden faucet. Sarna’s (Mole Witnesses a Miracle in Nature & Explore the World of Frogs with Mole, 2016, etc.) characters are all important members of the societies in which children live, and Mole’s escapades are designed to not only thrill, but educate as well. A gardener, firefighter, doctor, and plumber perform different jobs, but they’re all important to the well-oiled community. Young readers should delight in learning about each role—even ones they never thought they cared about. Sarna’s stories are certainly engaging (if a touch underdeveloped), but they also have capitalization errors. For instance, the text explains: “The next day Plumber Parker came with his Tool Box and some new steel pipes to help in fixing the leaking faucet in the Mole house garden.” But the illustrations are amusing (although the human cast lacks diversity), and readers should enjoy the colorful images throughout the work.
A lively look at a community’s unsung heroes.Pub Date: March 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4828-7052-7
Page Count: 60
Publisher: PartridgeIndia
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
With the same delightfully irreverent spirit that he brought to his retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1987), Marshall enlivens another favorite. Although completely retold with his usual pungent wit and contemporary touches ("I don't mind if I do," says Goldilocks, as she tries out porridge, chair, and bed), Marshall retains the stories well-loved pattern, including Goldilocks escaping through the window (whereupon Baby Bear inquires, "Who was that little girl?"). The illustrations are fraught with delicious humor and detail: books that are stacked everywhere around the rather cluttered house, including some used in lieu of a missing leg for Papa Bear's chair; comically exaggerated beds—much too high at the head and the foot; and Baby Bear's wonderfully messy room, which certainly brings the story into the 20th century. Like its predecessor, perfect for several uses, from picture-book hour to beginning reading.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988
ISBN: 0140563660
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988
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