Despite unevenness in the total package, many families will doubtless be smitten with Collins’ intricate tableaux—and...
Collins, whose Flora Forager brand has yielded adult books and a large Instagram following, presents her first children’s title.
Utilizing petals, seeds, foliage, and other botanical bits, Collins constructs an animal abecedary from angelfish to zebra. After a four-line introduction, the text consists of the animals’ names with their initial upper- and lowercase letters printed large in the upper corners of the pages. The author cleverly exploits her materials’ textures, shapes, and color gradations in compositions arranged against pastel backgrounds. The yak’s petal-filled amber coat is appropriately shaggy, and the succulents used to create the elephant endow it with a rounded (albeit greenish) form. Some of the most charming depictions are of animal groups. Illustrating “Quail,” a parent and three chicks sport pansy-petal faces and fiddlehead topknots as they file past an assemblage of pale green hellebore blooms, ferns, and ivy. Compositions are not evenly successful, however. For “Giraffe” and “Turtle,” Collins snips petals and blooms to approximate the angular patterns of their respective hide and shell; these look less integrated than other depictions, such as “Zebra.” There’s no correspondence in size among the animals, and two fanciful creatures (“Dragon” and “Unicorn”) are included. While “I” is for a generic “Insect” (evidently a type of beetle), ever pesky “X” is for “Xerus inaurus (Cape ground squirrel).”
Despite unevenness in the total package, many families will doubtless be smitten with Collins’ intricate tableaux—and perhaps be inspired to forage and create their own compositions. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-209-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
A disappointing follow-up.
Inventor Izzy Gizmo is back in this sequel to her eponymous debut (2017).
While busily inventing one day, Izzy receives an invitation from the Genius Guild to their annual convention. Though Izzy’s “inventions…don’t always work,” Grandpa (apparently her sole caregiver) encourages her to go. The next day they undertake a long journey “over fields, hills, and waves” and “mile after mile” to isolated Technoff Isle. There, Izzy finds she must compete against four other kids to create the most impressive machine. The colorful, detail-rich illustrations chronicle how poor Izzy is thwarted at every turn by Abi von Lavish, a Veruca Salt–esque character who takes all the supplies for herself. But when Abi abandons her project, Izzy salvages the pieces and decides to take Grandpa’s advice to create a machine that “can really be put to good use.” A frustrated Izzy’s impatience with a friend almost foils her chance at the prize, but all’s well that ends well. There’s much to like: Brown-skinned inventor girl Izzy is an appealing character, it’s great to see a nurturing brown-skinned male caregiver, the idea of an “Invention Convention” is fun, and a sustainable-energy invention is laudable. However, these elements don’t make up for rhymes that often feel forced and a lackluster story.
A disappointing follow-up. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
A comical, fresh look at crayons and color
Duncan wants to draw, but instead of crayons, he finds a stack of letters listing the crayons’ demands in this humorous tale.
Red is overworked, laboring even on holidays. Gray is exhausted from coloring expansive spaces (elephants, rhinos and whales). Black wants to be considered a color-in color, and Peach? He’s naked without his wrapper! This anthropomorphized lot amicably requests workplace changes in hand-lettered writing, explaining their work stoppage to a surprised Duncan. Some are tired, others underutilized, while a few want official titles. With a little creativity and a lot of color, Duncan saves the day. Jeffers delivers energetic and playful illustrations, done in pencil, paint and crayon. The drawings are loose and lively, and with few lines, he makes his characters effectively emote. Clever spreads, such as Duncan’s “white cat in the snow” perfectly capture the crayons’ conundrum, and photographic representations of both the letters and coloring pages offer another layer of texture, lending to the tale’s overall believability.
A comical, fresh look at crayons and color . (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: June 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-25537-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
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