A whimsical but well-grounded environmentalist tale.
A boy brings back the stars by helping to save Earth in Gonzalez’s illustrated fantasy tale.
Winston’s grandmother Estrella once told him that stars were made of promises, and when the stars vanish, he gets worried. He uses a telescope in the lighthouse where he lives to peer deep into space, but only sees the moon, which he asks for help. The moon shows him a path into the sky on a ladder made of stardust. The world above the clouds is magical, and when Winston rescues a fallen star, it promises to introduce him to the other, hidden stars, who fear that humans will hurt them the way they’ve harmed their own planet. Indeed, when Winston arrives at the stars’ hidden village, they’re afraid of him. He pledges that he’ll do everything he can to save his planet, and assures the stars that there are others like him who will do the same. He offers to give them a necklace from his grandmother—the one thing he has left to remember her by—because it’s his most important possession: “Consider it my promise to you all,” he says. The stars accept, and soon Winston makes good on his pledge by planting trees and organizing garbage cleanups. Gonzalez’s straightforward text guides readers through Krapivina’s riotous, full-color cartoon illustrations of Winston’s magical journey. The bright hues zing and zip across the pages with whirls of light and shadow. Gonzalez uses just the right amount of text to allow the illustrations to take over storytelling duties occasionally, resulting in a balanced blend of words and art. The notion that the missing stars are related to the Earth’s pollution—which, of course, makes stars harder to see—feels right on the nose. Although the tale seems to place the burden of caring for the planet on individuals—there’s no talk of making larger structural changes in society—Winston’s actions are likely to empower young readers to do their part to make the world a brighter place.
A whimsical but well-grounded environmentalist tale.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Hello, Wonderworld
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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