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
Silly, surreal fun: Deeper meanings, if any, are well-concealed, but who needs ’em? (Picture book. 6-8)
A droll if severely abbreviated cowboy tale—wordless and with a decidedly loopy climactic twist.
Depicted in flurries of straight, scratchy lines and scribbled colors in a sequence of full-page panels, the episode begins and ends with an escape. Hotly pursuing a coyote who has broken out of jail and galloped off atop what looks more like a hyena than a horse (none of the figures here are quite identifiable), a lawman with the head of a donkey (perhaps) catches up with his quarry in a rocky cul-de-sac. When a passing ladybug defuses the tense confrontation, the steely-eyed opponents lay down their guns and break out the stemware for a comfy fish dinner—after which the two flee together from a charging squad of cavalry (also mounted atop hyenas). That chase ends at the edge of a cliff, where, to the consternation of their pursuers, clouds of ladybugs suddenly rise to carry both fugitives away. For what it’s worth, sharp-eyed and repeat observers will note that the ladybug is a sort of outside observer who actually makes frequent appearances, from the front cover illustration on.
Silly, surreal fun: Deeper meanings, if any, are well-concealed, but who needs ’em? (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 31, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59270-147-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014
A charming poem-story, competently illustrated, that will especially appeal to poets.
In this picture book, poetic words unveil the power of imagination in reading.
Through nuance and metaphor, poet Collins delivers the promise of imaginative worlds that await readers who immerse themselves in words. He tells a story of a boy who sails off on a boat that, when out of sight of land, turns into a book, which the boy reads and which then, in delightful circularity, becomes part of his life. Illustrator Romagna does a good job of amplifying the text with her workmanlike images while at the same time inserting visual connecting points to keep it earthbound enough that less poetically inclined readers don’t get lost. At times, the boy in the illustrations looks somewhat flat, lacking a clear animating spark, but on the whole, Romagna does a commendable job. The book is on the small side (10 inches by 7 inches), although it does have a landscape orientation—a good choice for a book about a journey. But a larger trim size would have the effect of giving a welcome physical breadth to a story about the expansiveness of imagination. The final page repeats the poem in full, printed within an illustration of an open book—another connection for readers to ponder, another flight of fancy offered.
A charming poem-story, competently illustrated, that will especially appeal to poets. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-59373-154-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bunker Hill
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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