by Axel Janssens & illustrated by Axel Janssens ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 2012
The art is striking, even if the text is a little too preachy.
All those anecdotes about how children prefer playing with a big empty box instead of the present inside pop up in this earnest little tale translated from the Dutch.
Leo has a new red bike, of which he is very proud. While riding it around the schoolyard, however, he crashes into a big cardboard box that Kenny is sitting in. Leo falls and is pretty annoyed, but Kenny announces that he was hiding in the box to escape a rhino. The box transforms into a car to aid Kenny’s escape, but the jungle presents tough terrain, so it turns into an elephant, with Kenny’s box a basket on its back. The box continues its transformations as Kenny’s stories get even more elaborate. Each time Leo declares the impossibility of a transformation, Kenny calmly refutes it. Eventually all the children want to join Kenny in his adventures in the box, and even Leo decides the box is way more fun than his shiny red bike. The illustrations seem to be photographs of three-dimensional figures and collage, with the children, beasts and objects molded from some kind of claylike substance. Kenny has wild, stand-up hair, and the group of children is ethnically mixed. The endpapers are a close-up image of a corrugated cardboard box—just right.
The art is striking, even if the text is a little too preachy. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60537-134-4
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
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by Natasha Wing ; illustrated by Helen Dardik ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018
In contrast to the carbs and desserts pictured, though sweet, this is unlikely to stick with readers.
A romance for carb (and pun!) lovers who dance to their own drummers and don’t give up on their dreams.
Bagel is a guy who loves to dance; when he’s tapping and twirling, he doesn’t feel plain. The problem is, he can’t find a partner for the Cherry Jubilee Dance Contest. Poppy says his steps are half-baked. Pretzel, “who was at the spa getting a salt rub…told him his moves didn’t cut the mustard.” He strikes out in Sweet City, too, with Croissant, Doughnut, and Cake. But just when he’s given up, he hears the music from the contest and can’t help moving his feet. And an echoing tap comes back to him. Could it be a partner at last? Yep, and she just happens to smell sweet and have frosting piled high. Bagel and Cupcake crush the contest, but winning the trophy? That “was just icing on the cake,” as the final sentence reads, the two standing proudly with a blue ribbon and trophy, hearts filling the space above and between them. Dardik’s digital illustrations are pastel confections. Sometimes just the characters’ heads are the treats, and other times the whole body is the foodstuff, with tiny arms and legs added on. Even the buildings are like something from “Hansel and Gretel.” However, this pun-filled narrative is just one of many of its ilk, good for a few yuks but without much staying power.
In contrast to the carbs and desserts pictured, though sweet, this is unlikely to stick with readers. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2239-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
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by Max Greenfield ; illustrated by Mike Lowery ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022
A potential gift for fans of the contributors’ earlier work.
A text-heavy, joke-filled monograph about a dreaded bestowal.
In this meta text, an unseen narrator gripes about everything they wish they had received as a present, including a dog and a skateboard. “Now I feel like I have to read it,” the narrator grumps about their book gift. In subsequent spreads, they express their frustration. Sensitive bibliophiles beware: The narrator is ruthless in their scorn of giving books as presents. Some may tire of the message, repeated page after page in different ways: “Look, I’m a doer, not a reader,” one page reads, accompanied by an image of a muscled arm. The narrator makes references to clogging the toilet with homemade slime (“I told them it most definitely wasn’t me”)—a moment that will appeal to older kids who can grasp and revel in the humor. Human skin is shown as printer paper white, tan, and blue. Layouts are boisterous yet uncluttered, using text in various sizes, colors, and fonts. Pleasant near-pastel yellow, blue, and purple back up goofy illustrations, sure to draw interest even if the quips go over younger kids’ heads. Some elements, like the desire to receive X-ray vision as a present, will resonate widely with the target audience, though the story largely treads similar ground as Greenfield and Lowery’s I Don’t Want To Read This Book (2021). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A potential gift for fans of the contributors’ earlier work. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-46236-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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