Readers may find this book confusing and difficult to follow, though it does effectively evoke the turbulence of both a...
Rabbit, Alex’s “most favourite stuffed toy,” has hopped out the window and is now gone. In a city flooded after days of endless rain, Alex sets out to rescue Rabbit.
The river has burst its banks, the dam is overflowing, and the water is rising. Amid this chaotic setting—depicted in equally chaotic mixed-media artwork—Alex climbs into a watermelon boat to find Rabbit. Alex appears to be a white child roughly sketched out in pencil, the outline cut out, and then collaged. Told from the child’s point of view, the book is more a description of the people, animals, objects, and situations encountered along the way than it is a story. A cat is stuck on a roof with nothing to eat. A woman and her dog are cooking on top of their house. Shops are being looted. Objects and memories are being washed away forever. Confusion reigns, and the only thing Alex can do is continue the search for Rabbit. At times arbitrary, at times whimsical, at times scary, the story meanders along with Alex. Eventually, Rabbit is found, and the two friends climb up a twisting ladder and end up back home. Alex wishes for blue skies and sunshine so a tree can be planted and the birds can come back when the tree grows. The text is set in a variety of typefaces and styles, as chaotic as the artwork and the situation.
Readers may find this book confusing and difficult to follow, though it does effectively evoke the turbulence of both a cityscape and a child’s emotions after a flood. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-74331-007-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A delightful story of a cross-racial friendship between two kids who realize how much they need each other and the passions...
STEM becomes STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) as Melia, an inventor, and Jo, a dancer, discover that they’re a dynamic team.
Melia loves to invent things and tinker all day long in her backyard. Then Jo moves in next door and dances her way into Melia’s inventing space. With total disregard for the sanctity of Melia’s creations, Jo flips Melia’s cereal-bowl radio onto her head to wear it as a hat, sticks a rope of black licorice into the neck of an unfinished robot, and chucks a paper airplane—that Melia is still designing—into the air. Although she’s miffed at Jo’s invasion of her space, Melia realizes that Jo has inadvertently solved some puzzling conundrums. When Melia shows Jo what a difference she has made, Jo refuses to partner with Melia…until one of Melia’s inventions saves her. Their contrasting personalities are effectively delineated in the retro-styled illustrations: Brown-skinned Jo wears a pinky-purple tutu, a pearl necklace, and feathers in her hair; blonde-haired, peachy-skinned Melia wears shorts and an orange cape and boots. The backmatter provides instructions for how to make Melia’s paper airplane and explains the benefits of turning STEM into STEAM.
A delightful story of a cross-racial friendship between two kids who realize how much they need each other and the passions that each brings to the friendship. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-328-91626-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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