Complete with a map and a list of sights, this is part guidebook, part encouraging advice book for future independent...
Tiny stuffed-animal besties Mimi and Piggy take a long-awaited voyage to Venice.
Being in an unusual, colorful, crowded city is exciting, but bunny Mimi reveals, “I felt so small and a little bit nervous” surrounded by all the people. Many youngsters, whether planning a major excursion or a trip to a new supermarket, will relate. Then the worst happens: Mimi and Piggy become separated! In her frantic search for Piggy, Mimi runs deep into Venice. Tashiro’s bright illustrations in pencil and gauche capture the details of the vibrant locale with its boats and bridges, tourists and souvenir shops, fish stalls and more, gradually turning to more somber sepia tones as Mimi reaches her low point. She comes to a stop, crying. That’s when a helpful boy advises Mimi to go back to the last place she saw Piggy. Once they’ve reconnected, Mimi can relax and enjoy the sights, which are depicted in inviting spot, full-page, and double-page-spread art. Keen-eyed observers will notice the boy smiling as the friends float past on a gondola before they go to a delicious dinner.
Complete with a map and a list of sights, this is part guidebook, part encouraging advice book for future independent adventurers. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-988-8341-02-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As pirate fare goes, this is far from the only ship on the sea, but it does sail along smartly.
A pirate yarn sails familiar territory in satisfyingly rollicking fashion.
Subscribers all to the pirate code—“No cryin’ / No dyin’ / No brushing yer teeth! / No stealin’ / No squealin’ / No eatin’ Parrot Pete!”—the ragged crew of Cap’n Bones sets out aboard the battered but seaworthy Dragonfish of Doom in search of hidden treasure. Dorman pairs his rousing (if not always regular) rhyme to swashbuckling scenes of scurvy knaves in typical pirate regalia (Cap’n Bones sports both pegleg and hook). They leer at mermaids with snaggle-toothed glee and weather hazards from butt-biting sharks to wild waves on the way to digging up a chest full of gold coins and more. “There be trinkets, / There be jewels, / There be even a gold chair. / There be goblets, / There be diamonds, / There be pirate underwear!” Young buccaneers along for the voyage will join the general derision that greets a proposal to “buy lace britches—we’ve oodles of riches—and start our lives anew.” Full-bleed, shiny, saturated spreads depict the buccaneers—the very definition of a motley crew—with calculated, joyful excess.
As pirate fare goes, this is far from the only ship on the sea, but it does sail along smartly. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-204068-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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