A lonely boy discovers a world of friendship on his apartment building’s roof. Jawanza is not allowed to play outside, so he spends his time looking out his window at the pigeons flying. He expresses his frustration by yelling at them, but an “old man with stick fingers” puts him in his place from the rooftop: “Can y’all believe that Mr. Joe-wanza, talking loud at you people because you’re flying? What are y’all supposed to be doing—swimming?” Jawanza investigates the rooftop to find that Mr. Roderick Jackson Montgomery the Three and his pigeons have a whole world unto themselves under the sky—a world and language that “Mr. Three” teaches Jawanza to appreciate. Myers (Wings, 2000, etc.) once again explores the ideas of friendship and flight as liberating metaphor. The watercolor illustrations employ a warm palette of yellows and oranges, with bright blue skies; the figures of Jawanza and Mr. Roderick Jackson Montgomery the Three are elongated and bend into elegant curves that mimic the swoops of the pigeons’ flight. Jawanza’s sadness at the beginning is palpable, as is his emerging joy as he learns the “pigeon dance.” The old man’s distinctive voice is pure delight: “The problem with you now, Mr. Joe-wanza, is that you’re too hurry-hurry to make the friends you’re going to have. You got to take time with these new friends.” The text as a whole, however, is overlong for a story with as little real action as this one; it bogs down from time to time in the details, and perhaps Mr. Roderick Jackson Montgomery the Three’s delightful voice runs a little out of control. It is, nevertheless, a beautiful exploration of urban friendship in unexpected places. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7868-0652-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2001
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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