An aquatic tale provides a sensitive environmental message, beautiful illustrations, and a relatable heroine.
A young girl discovers the importance of ocean conservation and her connection to all life during a magical adventure under the sea.
In her idyllic home near the ocean, a girl named Umijoo devours, “as quick as blinking,” the fish dinner that her father has prepared for her, prompting him to remind her that “food is more than just a dish. / There’s time and life and sacrifice / behind each bite of rice and fish.” In this lovely, large-format, rhyming picture book for ages 9 and up by noted marine conservation activist Trenor (Sustainable Sushi, 2009), Umijoo’s father gives her a magic stone that enables her to go on an undersea journey. Before returning to shore, she will learn to appreciate the diversity of life the ocean offers and to understand how people affect it, as individual creatures speak, inviting empathy for their plight due to inhumane practices, overfishing, and pollution. In the author’s rhythmic tale, the book’s message about the need to respect and protect the health of the oceans and to understand humans’ connection to them and all life is delivered with age-appropriate clarity and graceful imagery. As Umijoo sinks deeper and deeper beneath the ocean surface, she encounters a vivid display of life in a coral reef—tiny fish “like shining seeds” and “soft rosy pink” shrimp—a school of fish who resemble “gleaming shards of shattered glass,” an octopus who poses a soulful riddle, and, in the dark abyss near the ocean floor, a monstrous but melancholy angler fish with bioluminescent appeal and “two tremendous rows of teeth that gleamed like racks of sharpened knives.” The text is stunningly realized in pop surrealist Koopman’s dreamlike paintings of ocean denizens, land flora and fauna, and Umijoo herself. Well-researched and interpreted through the debut illustrator’s unique artistic prism, these paintings (full-bleed, with many in double-page spreads) are a feast for the eyes, alive with lavish details and richly saturated colors.
An aquatic tale provides a sensitive environmental message, beautiful illustrations, and a relatable heroine.Pub Date: March 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73286-050-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Shark & Siren Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fiber artists beware! Unnerving artistry and reality TV mix and meld in this fantastic cautionary tale.
Obsession claims an unlikely victim when a young mole gives absolutely everything for a chance at glitz and glory.
Nine-year-old Winona Mole is passionate about crocheting. Her favorite television program is an Is It Cake?–like show called Yarn Is Everything!, in which contestants create realistic replicas of objects through stitch alone. After a trip to a woolen arts museum, Winona sees the mysterious Spirit Hook, rumored to bestow powers “upon those willing to pay the price.” Later, Winona finds a seeming replica of that same crochet hook in her bag. Suddenly, her skills accelerate fantastically. Yet when she gets a chance to compete on Yarn Is Everything!, what starts as a passion turns into something darker. Reynolds walks that thin line between kid-appropriate and chilling with an aplomb worthy of his Twilight Zone influences. Winona’s descent into unhealthy fixation is matched by Brown’s telltale yarn fragments, trailing eerily from objects that should not be yarn-based. Crafters may find it odd that Reynolds opted for crocheting, not the more common knitting, as Winona’s métier. Even so, this lends the usual homey arts an effective creepiness, even as the increasing ridiculousness of the crocheted objects makes it sublimely silly as well.
Fiber artists beware! Unnerving artistry and reality TV mix and meld in this fantastic cautionary tale. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781665961141
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2026
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