Another fun, satisfying pirate adventure.
Roman’s (Captain No Beard: Strangers on the High Seas, 2013, etc.) pirate adventure, the fifth installment in her picture-book series, tackles the idea of what really matters.
Replete with brightly colored illustrations that bring to life dear friends and their vivid surroundings, the book begins when Captain No Beard and his feisty crew see a red sunrise. Polly the Parrot recites an ancient poem saying that red sky by morning means a storm is coming. When the crew demands to know where she came upon that information, she tells them about books and the joys to be found within their pages. The fascinated crew hammers her with questions, and their reactions are hilarious and endearing as they each discover books about their greatest loves or fears. The sparkling, fast-paced text gives life to the crew’s animated discussions. Fribbet the Frog, however, soon erupts into a hilarious moment of panic that the crew is talking about books instead of preparing for the storm: “How can you talk about books now! Red sky, oh boy. We’re in trouble. Storm’s coming. Shiver me timbers!” Just as the poem predicts, the crew does indeed encounter bad weather, with each team member doing his or her best to manage his or her duties, including cabin girl Cayla’s dubious contributions of pouring sour milk out of her bottle and unfraying a rope. The support and teamwork of the crew is a good reminder that working together in the face of adversity can make even a storm at sea fun. When the storm quiets, Captain No Beard whips out a treasure map for Snake Island, and the crew disembarks to find the treasure. Roman sets up an expectation for the treasure to be traditional pirate loot, so when they open the trunk and discover it’s full of books, it is a delightful, surprising twist. When the crew realizes they’ve stumbled up on a cache of books, the lack of gold is no disappointment among the ranks. Instead, they are all delighted and retire with happy joy to read about their favorite topics. As always, Roman skillfully intertwines a good lesson with open-sea adventure, danger and good ol’ pirate lingo. It’s even endearing how Polly the Parrot offers bottles of water for the crew while they dig—remember to stay hydrated, young readers!
Another fun, satisfying pirate adventure.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-1482390971
Page Count: 38
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
In an imaginative wordless picture book, Wiesner (illustrator of Kite Flyer, 1986) tours a dream world suggested by the books and objects in a boy's room. A series of transitions—linked by a map in the book that the boy was reading as he fell asleep—wafts him, pajama-clad, from an aerial view of hedge-bordered fields to a chessboard with chess pieces, some changing into their realistic counterparts (plus a couple of eerie roundheaded figures based on pawns that reappear throughout); next appear a castle; a mysterious wood in which lurks a huge, whimsical dragon; the interior of a neoclassical palace; and a series of fantastic landscapes that eventually transport the boy back to his own bed. Most interesting here are the visual links Wiesner uses in his journey's evolution; it's fun to trace the many details from page to page. There's a bow to Van Allsburg, and another to Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, but Wiesner's broad double-spreads of a dream world—whose muted colors suggest a silent space outside of time—have their own charm. Intriguing.
Pub Date: April 20, 1988
ISBN: 978-0-06-156741-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1988
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