This charming bedtime read-aloud, a German import, assures children that a new day awaits them
A child dreams of sailing across the sky and sea, accompanied by a favorite stuffed lion.
Together they venture into the night in a bed carried along in a hot air balloon basket suspended from a yellow moon. They travel over a meadow and deep into the ocean, making friends with animals along the way. Author and illustrator Teckentrup owes something to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are in the style of her illustrations as well as the book’s design. In full and partial double-page spreads, the companions float on the seas in a simple sailboat with a triangular sail. The dreamy, sparse text is frequently set opposite the illustrations, surrounded by white space. The story conveys both a sense of adventure and the comfort of a protective companion: “You make me feel safe, / you are always near. / That’s why I am brave, / without any fear….” Mottled, textured collage and mixed media in a gentle, subdued palette propel the story from the dark of night until dawn, the journey echoed in the endpapers. The lovely illustrations on matte paper are an evocative match to the simple prose, drawing readers into the child’s dream. Even the binding of this well-designed book adds to its success, as the large pages fall open with a satisfying sound.
This charming bedtime read-aloud, a German import, assures children that a new day awaits them . (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-3-7913-7246-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Prestel
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016
There are many parallel legends – the seal women, for example, with their strange sad longings – but none is more direct than this American Indian story of a girl who is carried away in a horses’ stampede…to ride thenceforth by the side of a beautiful stallion who leads the wild horses. The girl had always loved horses, and seemed to understand them “in a special way”; a year after her disappearance her people find her riding beside the stallion, calf in tow, and take her home despite his strong resistance. But she is unhappy and returns to the stallion; after that, a beautiful mare is seen riding always beside him. Goble tells the story soberly, allowing it to settle, to find its own level. The illustrations are in the familiar striking Goble style, but softened out here and there with masses of flowers and foliage – suitable perhaps for the switch in subject matter from war to love, but we miss the spanking clean design of Custer’s Last Battle and The Fetterman Fight. 6-7
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1978
ISBN: 0689845049
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978
A playful, punchy paean to the pervasive poot.
What’s that smell? Oh how rude! But everybody does it.
“Grandmas fart. / Teachers fart. / Terrifying creatures fart. // Farting dancer. / Farting singer. / Farts when Dad says, ‘Pull my finger.’ ” Seems that everyone passes gas, but when it comes to Mom, she adamantly denies that she ever farts. Brothers and sisters, canaries and goldfish, dragons (those are fiery—watch out!) and horn players all toot. Even unicorns fart, and those come out rainbows! But mothers (at least according to Mom) do not fart. Mimes and clowns and chickens and bunnies are all guilty. “Breaking wind. / Cut the cheese. / Ninja farts are SBDs.” The rhythmic text rolls inexorably onward. “Farts that whisper. / Farts that roar. / Someone’s farting behind that door!” (You know who it is; caught you, Mom!) Goofily irreverent author and illustrator Kelley delivers the ultimate blast of gassy, honest humor with his whimsical, cheeky rhyme about the oft-denied panty whisper. The subject in itself will elicit giggles, and the ingenious, catchy, and simple rhyme will compound those. But it is the color illustrations, alternating between half-page and full-page, loaded with lifted legs, floating skirt-backs, bubbles in the water, and a diverse array of faces squinched up in effort (to deal) or disgust (in having been dealt on), that are utterly priceless.
A playful, punchy paean to the pervasive poot. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4549-1954-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
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