Roman charms with an imaginative, whimsical picture book that will entertain even the oldest pirates.
Debut author Roman pens a picture book about an imaginative boy who transforms his bed and stuffed animals into props for a marvelous pirate adventure.
Roman draws the reader in from the first page with illustrations that are cheerful and clever. The story showcases a young pirate and his menagerie: cousin Hallie, a first mate who sports a purple bandanna and ruffled pirate shirt; Linus, the loudmouthed but scaredy-cat lion with a braided goatee; Fribbet, the floppy frog with an audacious red pirate hat; and Mongo, the mast-climbing monkey who charms with an eye patch and endearingly oversized lips. Roman deftly creates an appealing visual experience with engaging, bright illustrations that will appeal to young readers. The characters are rich with animated expressions and personalities that showcase the creative and warmhearted ways the characters have fun. Well-drafted secondary characters also include the “mermaid” who appears with a plate of golden doubloons (in the form of cookies) and orders the pirate not to get crumbs on the bed when eating them. The text has a lovely intonation when read aloud, and the simple, understandable story also carries a more complex, clever subtext that will allow for educational discussions. The captain’s constant good-natured lament that “being a captain is hard work”—as he watches his crew do all the actual labor—is hilarious and a pleasant opportunity to teach children about the nuances of words and their layers of meaning. The author’s adept use of genuine pirate terms—“swab the decks,” “pump the bilges” and “me hearties”—adds flavor and authenticity to the story, too. The captain and his crew sit down with a dictionary to figure out what “shiver me timbers” means, and then they take great delight upon using the phrase correctly; children will, too.
Roman charms with an imaginative, whimsical picture book that will entertain even the oldest pirates.Pub Date: April 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615534657
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Michael/Okon
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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PERSPECTIVES
The lone-wolf-finds-love YA formula, tweaked and reshaped with a poet’s sensibilities.
A dark and complex young-adult fantasy of love, longing and war.
Roberts’ remarkably accomplished, involving (if lamentably titled) YA novel centers on Fang—a nightmare embodied in the form of a large, ferocious black dog with the thoughts, feelings and soul of a classic teen-novel bad-boy hero. Fang inhabits the Dark—a shifting, kaleidoscopic landscape inhabited by other nightmares, demons and brawling angels—where his “Muse” sits all day sad and silent in her ramshackle house, indifferent to Fang’s feelings for her. Fang’s existence as a stalker of other people’s dreams is being challenged from multiple directions (and by multiple females)—his indifferent Muse, the dreaming mortal girl Anna, and even Lily, a demon with hair like “blood” and a surprisingly romantic heart (“I’d trade a house full of regular flowers for just one,” Lily tells our hero, “if it was picked because it was perfect for me”). Complicating matters at the outset is Fang’s friend Jeffery, who concocts a scheme to radically extend the reach and power of the Dark—a plan that eventually upsets the delicate balance of power in the supernatural realm and sparks a war. Scene-stealer Baal heads the team of bad angels. He contemptuously tells one of the good guys, “Not all of us spend every night praying we could lick our Father’s boots again.” Roberts charges virtually every scene with tension and some refreshingly unsentimental dialogue, and the underpinning worldbuilding is complex and convincing. Through adroit pacing, distinctive characters (especially Fang himself, who’s the perfect balance of tough and tender) and some quite lovely prose, he crafts a story of surprising emotional punch.
The lone-wolf-finds-love YA formula, tweaked and reshaped with a poet’s sensibilities.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2013
ISBN: 9781620070802
Page Count: 277
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An inconsistent but imaginative, clever tale in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.
Schwulst’s picture book portrays an African folktale about the tortoise and his shell.
Thomas the tortoise, soft and wrinkled in body, searches for shelter on a “cold, dark and stormy night.” Finding none, he seeks warmth and a nap in the morning on a rock warmed by the sun. Monkeys wake him by chattering about the lion king’s malady, from which he will surely die. Skeptical, Thomas sets out to see for himself. At the king’s camp, Thomas finds Victor the Vulture. Victor confirms the king’s grave illness and says the only cure is for the lion to consume a pile of nuts, but no one can crack them open. Edward the Elephant could do it, but he stubbornly refuses. Kindhearted Thomas gets an idea and waddles off to bring Edward to the camp. As he goes, the monkeys laugh at the idea that a “small squishy tortoise” like Thomas could make Edward do anything. Thomas says that if he does bring Edward back, they all must kneel and must call him, Thomas, king. The monkeys laugh at this joke but say they will do as Thomas asks. Thomas finds Wilma Warthog, who agrees to dig a hole, deep and wide, and fill it with the nuts. Thomas finds Edward and tells him all the animals want him to be king and that they’ve invited him to a feast. Edward immediately booms agreement and scoops Thomas up on his back for the trek to the king’s camp. The monkeys greet them, kneel and yell, “All hail the King.” Edward sticks out his chest, boasting and strutting, until he falls into the hole, where he stomps and stomps until all the nuts are crushed and made into a stew. The stew heals the king, and Thomas wins his protective shell. The story and characters are delightful, but the illustrations are dark and out of harmony with the optimism of Thomas’ tale. Rhyme and rhythm are used erratically, which makes for awkward reading. Confusing punctuation errors appear throughout the text.
An inconsistent but imaginative, clever tale in the spirit of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2012
ISBN: 978-1479260904
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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