Imaginative, poignant, and humorous—altogether charming.
A grandfather gives magical potions to his granddaughter for her birthdays in this children’s picture book.
Little Madeline likes a lot of things about her Grandfather Gilderberry, a tinkerer who’s always inventing things in his workshop. But what she likes best, she says, is her grandfather’s magical birthday presents. Every year, he presents her with a box of potions and instructions to “Take a potion, take a brew. / Just don’t drink the pink.” Over the years, she’s discovered each potion’s temporary magical effects; the blue one, for example, turns her into a mermaid; the green potion gives her superstrength. Before her 15th birthday, her grandfather dies, but he leaves her the pink potion with a “Happy Birthday” note. While drinking it, she wishes to see her grandfather again, and she’s pulled back in time. Fegan (The World’s Greatest Mousetrap, 2019, etc.) subtly teaches counting and colors in this warmhearted, amusing picture book. The quatrains, which have an abcb rhyme, scan well and include comforting repetition. Kids will enjoy seeing the fun magical effects of Grandfather’s potions, which illustrator Wen (Secrets of the Great Fire Tree, 2019, etc.) vibrantly brings to life. The early-20th-century details and clothing styles are intriguing. Madeline’s family is portrayed as white while crowds include diverse skin tones.
Imaginative, poignant, and humorous—altogether charming.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-925810-08-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: TaleBlade
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The greening of Dr. Seuss, in an ecology fable with an obvious message but a savingly silly style. In the desolate land of the Lifted Lorax, an aged creature called the Once-ler tells a young visitor how he arrived long ago in the then glorious country and began manufacturing anomalous objects called Thneeds from "the bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees." Despite protests from the Lorax, a native "who speaks for the trees," he continues to chop down Truffulas until he drives away the Brown Bar-ba-loots who had fed on the Tuffula fruit, the Swomee-Swans who can't sing a note for the smogulous smoke, and the Humming-Fish who had hummed in the pond now glumped up with Gluppity-Glupp. As for the Once-let, "1 went right on biggering, selling more Thneeds./ And I biggered my money, which everyone needs" — until the last Truffula falls. But one seed is left, and the Once-let hands it to his listener, with a message from the Lorax: "UNLESS someone like you/ cares a whole awful lot,/ nothing is going to get better./ It's not." The spontaneous madness of the old Dr. Seuss is absent here, but so is the boredom he often induced (in parents, anyway) with one ridiculous invention after another. And if the Once-let doesn't match the Grinch for sheer irresistible cussedness, he is stealing a lot more than Christmas and his story just might induce a generation of six-year-olds to care a whole lot.
Pub Date: Aug. 12, 1971
ISBN: 0394823370
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1971
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