Belying its title, this uncomplicated journey of discovery barely scratches the grammatical surface.
A comma searches for her place in the wide classroom-world.
Whisked away by a breeze, a punctuation mark wearily laments a repeated refrain: “I’m Katie Comma. / I feel so alone. / I must start searching / to find my way home.” She hops into different books but is perfunctorily dismissed from the ends of sentences when there should respectively be a period, a question mark, and an exclamation mark (where the accurate punctuation has gone is never addressed). Finally, she “tumble[s] into the middle of a sentence” in the teacher’s book, which is conveniently open to instructions on when to use commas. This, at long last, is “where she belong[s].” No other examples of proper usage appear within the narrative before the final page of story text. The author’s note stresses the importance of the character’s determination and how that relates to readers more than it does grammar. Tracing Katie’s path via her footsteps may provide some extra amusement for young ones. The pictures’ straightforward, bold designs serve to reinforce the content. Katie and her comma family look like many anthropomorphized characters from grade school cartoons. Since the grammar instruction is so slight and other offerings much stronger, the book’s existential quandary rather mirrors Katie’s.
Belying its title, this uncomplicated journey of discovery barely scratches the grammatical surface. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4556-2461-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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