Not the most flavorsome retelling, but worth a nibble.
It’s all a lark in this quick and simple version of the tale—at least until someone gets eaten.
Rodriguez retains the fugitive cookie’s traditional refrain but casts the rest of the narrative in simple, noncumulative prose: “The horse joined in the chase. The gingerbread man laughed and laughed, until he came to a river.” In the cartoon illustrations, everyone involved in the chase dashes along smiling—the gingerbread man even delivers Bronx cheers to his pursuers—until, at the end, the fox climbs out of the river and flips the horrified homunculus into his maw. The repetition in more extended renditions of the story make for stronger, more rhythmic read-alouds, but newly independent readers should trot through this one with nary a stumble…and find for reward a mouthwatering recipe at the end. As in her wordless confections (The Chicken Thief, 2010, etc.), Rodriguez’ illustrations yield amusing, attention-rewarding details: the sunbathing cow with shades and sunscreen, the oven-mitted old woman, the horse reading quietly at the bottom of the hill—and the heap that results when cow, pig and humans fall on top of it.
Not the most flavorsome retelling, but worth a nibble. (Picture book folk tale. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4086-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
Loewen’s story is a simple snapshot of kindergarten graduation day, and it stays true to form, with Yoshikawa’s artwork resembling photos that might be placed in an album—and the illustrations cheer, a mixed media of saturated color, remarkable depth and joyful expression. The author comfortably captures the hesitations of making the jump from kindergarten to first grade without making a fuss about it, and she makes the prospect something worth the effort. Trepidation aside, this is a reminder of how much fun kindergarten was: your own cubbyhole, the Halloween parade, losing a tooth, “the last time we’ll ever sit criss-cross applesauce together.” But there is also the fledgling’s pleasure at shucking off the past—swabbing the desks, tossing out the stubbiest crayons, taking the pictures off the wall—and surging into the future. Then there is graduation itself: donning the mortarboards, trooping into the auditorium—“Mr. Meyer starts playing a serious song on the piano. It makes me want to cry. It makes me want to march”—which will likely have a few adult readers feeling the same. (Picture book. 4-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5807-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
This long-running British series (the first Little Princess book was published in 1986) has been adapted for television there. In this installment, her dad (in a jacket and tie, wearing his crown) has read her a story and is about to turn off the light when the Little Princess shouts, “I WANT MY LIGHT ON!”—with her entire face subsumed into one of those scarlet, tooth-edged mouths. She’s not afraid of the dark but of ghosts. Dad checks under the bed, and General, Admiral, Doctor and Maid assure her there are no ghosts. The Little Princess’s room is a bright yellow, but readers see glimpses of the castle’s arches and stone steps past her doorway—and then there is a little ghost behind her bedpost, with a skeleton toy the shape of Little Princess’s own stuffie. Ghost and Princess scare each other, and he dashes off to his mother, who, as she stirs her pot of frog, worm and spider stew, assures him that there are no such things as little girls.... The pictures are clear, bold and exaggerated to great humorous effect. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6443-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen Press USA
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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