For space fans with great imaginations, this will inspire further adventures.
A little girl realizes that some adventures are fun on their own, but others really deserve friends in this self-illustrated ode to imagination from debut creator Gavish.
Blonde and blue-eyed Mia, wearing an orange spacesuit, and her koala robot, Koalabo, love to have space adventures. When they get to the park, Mia invites her friends (who have different skin tones; one of whom is in a wheelchair) to play space games. This is obviously Mia’s favorite game, and her friends don’t want to play it again, inviting her to join their games instead. But Mia and Koalabo are determined. They go to their treehouse rocket ship and travel to the purple planet of the Space Ticklers. At first, the ticklers don’t want her to play. Mia quickly proves that she’s a champion tickler, and they let her join. Eventually Mia gets bored of tickling—the only game the ticklers want to play. After a daring escape, Mia and Koalabo return home, where Mia takes off her spacesuit to have fun with her friends. Gavish’s acrylics on canvas add an eye-catching energy, with every space vista more outlandish than the next—scenes of “super sticky rainbow tickles” that Mia has to escape and clever koala-robot martial arts. Children who like to play the same game over and over again may get the subtle hint that sometimes it’s better to be social than always choose the same game, but it’s a low-key moral surrounded by brilliant colors, aliens, and robots.
For space fans with great imaginations, this will inspire further adventures.Pub Date: March 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-9997532-1-4
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Koalabo Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
