A light but uneventful tale of fanciful fairy love.
A mouse fairy with singular features finds romance in this debut children’s book.
Weefeefee, a magical mouse fairy (with his ears, tail, and eyes all shaped like hearts), resides in a sublime “green-aqua valley.” He enjoys spending time with the animals there (“He had many friends in the valley, including the birds, the monkeys, the squirrels, the tigers, and the lions”). One day, Leebeebee, a cherry fairy who lives on the fruity mountain, arrives for the happy feet dance celebration, parents in tow. The event is “the biggest, happiest gathering of each year.” At the extravaganza, they all perform the happy feet dance, having a wonderful time, and Leebeebee and Weefeefee fall in love almost immediately. They hail from different fairy families, sure, but that is of no importance—they marry and soon have as many cherry mouse babies as they can. These infants—Weeweelee, Weeleelee, Weefeebee, Weebeefee, and Weebeebee—are spitting images of their parents. They’re adorable little rodents with cherry mouse noses and, as happens in an idyllic valley of greenery, they all live happily ever after. This sunny book focuses on Kerber’s (The Clockwork Owl, 2016, etc.) colorful illustrations. Rotsaert’s text is quite sparse, and the drawings brightly fill in the huge gaps that exist in the meandering story. The images also help to define the characters. Names like Mama Applericoe and Papa Grapedeo can be hard to understand, and the pictures help readers imagine the realm that Weefeefee inhabits. While the text is whimsical and breezy, it is suited only for the youngest readers. The language is quite simple, and because the tale has no heft, experienced readers will likely be bored after one perusal. One lovely part of the enterprise, though, is the audience interaction that the work encourages. The images from the yarn are repeated, this time in black and white, in the back of the book so that youngsters can add color, creating their own world of Weefeefee. The illustrations can be colored or painted, as the prologue explains, allowing children to add their own spin to the frolicking couple and their cherry mouse kids.
A light but uneventful tale of fanciful fairy love.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5246-3626-5
Page Count: 26
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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