Words rule in this intriguing, impressive, imaginative, nearly wordless narrative drama.
Three kids find an old typewriter, igniting spectacular surprises when they start playing with it.
Wearing parkas and riding bikes, a white boy, an Asian boy, and a black girl follow a butterfly down a road bordered by snowbanks to an abandoned carousel, where a seat in the shape of a giant bumblebee holds a mysterious black case. Opening the case, they find an old manual typewriter bearing the logo “SpellingBee.” Retrieving paper from her backpack, the girl rolls a piece onto the platen and types the word “Beach.” Instantly, they’re on a sunny beach. When one of the boys types “Ball,” a beach ball appears. Typing “Ice Cream” produces a larger-than-life bucket of ice cream. Mischievously, the girl types “Crab,” and a sci-fi–sized crab with menacing claws chases them. Realizing her mistake, the girl hurries to type the right words to save this incredible day. As in Fossil (2013), Thomson relies on acrylic paint and colored pencils in his signature style to create illustrations of startling photographic realism. Adroit use of light, exaggerated and unusual perspectives, and intense close-ups emphasize the kids’ facial expressions (curiosity, surprise, joy, awe, terror) as well as their size in relation to the gargantuan ice cream bucket and fearsome crab.
Words rule in this intriguing, impressive, imaginative, nearly wordless narrative drama. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4778-4975-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
Appealing for entertainers and those who would rather just listen.
What is the point of reading a book aloud?
Greenfield and Lowery’s latest work of metafiction—after I Don’t Want To Read This Book (2021) and This Book Is Not a Present (2022)—features an agitated unseen narrator objecting to the idea of reading a book aloud: “It’s dopey words like aloud that make me want to remain asilent.” The rambling and occasionally digressive complaint provides an excellent canvas for Lowery’s energetic, hand-drawn typography and whimsical, charmingly silly drawings. Nearly every word is in capitals and gets its own color, size, or blocky 3-D rendering, resulting in a set of stage directions for a reader’s voice, graphically indicating pacing and emphasis. The detours from the cranky harangue are amusing. The narrator literally addresses “the elephant in the room”—“Hello, Elephant!”—and a few pages later focuses on the possibility that a word like aplomb could show up. The elephant offers a helpful definition of aplomb with, well, aplomb. Concerns about the pitfalls of performance are at the heart of this monologue. At one point the narrator’s worries (“I mean, what if I lose my place?...What am I supposed to do then? START OVER?”) are itemized on the verso and repeated on the recto. The audience will possibly find this hilarious. The sly paradox, of course, is that the reading aloud of this metatextual discourse contradicts the narrator’s avowed aversion to doing so and does it with panache. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Appealing for entertainers and those who would rather just listen. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593616581
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thank you, Gerald and Piggie. We’ll miss you
Piggie is “one lucky pig,” and she’s determined to make sure she thanks “everyone who is important to” her in this, the final Elephant & Piggie book.
Gerald is sure his friend will forget someone—“someone important”—but Piggie assures him, “It will be a THANK-O-RAMA!” Piggie proceeds to thank the Squirrels for their great ideas, Snake for playing ball, and the Pigeon “for never giving up.” Piggie thanks and thanks: “I am a thanking machine!” She thanks character after character, even the Flies (“Any time, dude!”), as Gerald continues to interject that she’ll forget “someone VERY important.” Finally Piggie runs out of thanks, and by this time Gerald is steamed. “I goofed,” Piggie says in itty-bitty type, before lavishing thanks on Gerald. But that’s not whom Piggie forgot to thank! A classic Willems tantrum later, Gerald reveals the “someone important”: “Our reader.” Of course. “We could not be ‘us’ without you,” says Gerald, earnestly looking out from the page, and Piggie chimes in, “You are the best!” As Elephant & Piggie books go, this isn’t one of the strongest, but it is a validating valediction to fans of the two characters, who have won Willems two Geisel Medals and five Honors. Yes, Gerald and Piggie have ushered countless readers into literacy, but as they rightly note, reading is a collaborative act.
Thank you, Gerald and Piggie. We’ll miss you . (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7828-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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