In Curran’s allegorical picture book debut, three horses learn to work together and overcome color-based prejudice.
In a barn at the base of a mountain, close to a nearby zoo, three horses live together but refuse to be friends. Cinnamon, the brown horse, believes the other two are thieves; Snowflake, the white horse, thinks he’s smarter than the other two; and Ebony, the black horse, is convinced the other two are liars. Because the three horses never bother to talk to each other and thus realize that they are wrong, they never become friends. One day, the horses are attacked by three escaped hyenas from the zoo. Worried the hyenas could corner them in the barn, the horses flee to an out-of-sight cave, where, for the first time, they can’t see the colors of their coats. That color-blindness leads to conversation, and the horses realize they have more in common than they realized. Together, they face the hyenas, who eventually retreat to the zoo for food that doesn’t fight back. The shared experience allows the three horses to overcome their prejudices, so that when a new horse with a coat of mixed colors arrives at the barn, they immediately accept her. The very short story has varying lengths of text per page, each accompanied by one of Mitchell’s soft, pastel illustrations; curiously, the hyenas have a lot more detail than the horses. Several pages have only a single sentence, while during the horses’ time in the cave, the text is a full page and a half in length—uneven pacing that could make lap-reading a challenge. Curran also opens the picture book with several pages of introductory text, which, though easily skipped for lap readers, takes up a curious amount of space in the book. The message itself isn’t new, and the racism in practice by the horses is defeated in one easy conversation, but toddlers and newly independent readers may be comforted by the idea that dialogue can overcome differences.
Supported by an obvious, but still needed, message about prejudice and friendship.
Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-1463695422
Page Count: 36
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable picture book that addresses important issues in a kid-friendly way without being preachy.
Willenbrock’s heartwarming debut picture book is the autobiographical story of how she came to share her home with a special shelter dog.
Told from the perspective of Marshall, Willenbrock’s dog, this tale tells of his unpleasant life in the home of a dog hoarder, where food for the dogs was so scarce that they fought each other at mealtime. In one of these fights, Marshall’s front leg was broken and his face was badly bitten. When animal rescuers finally found out about the animal hoarder and took the dogs away, Marshall was in such sorry shape that they didn’t know if he would make it. He ended up losing his damaged front leg and his face remained badly scarred, yet he describes the compassion of the humane society workers who helped him learn how to walk and run on three legs. He meets his new “mom” (owner) and adjusts to a life of freedom with her and her other dog, Mooshy. Though life is good, Marshall is insecure and nervous about how other dogs and people will react to the fact that he has only three legs and a big scar on his face, but he’s pleasantly surprised by the kindness of others. Heimbaugh’s realistic colored-pencil illustrations help bring Marshall’s story to life. Due to wordiness and the use of some bigger words—celebrity, socialize, limitations—this book will most likely work better as a read-aloud with school-age children. It also lends itself to discussions about the humane treatment of animals and discussions about bullying.
An enjoyable picture book that addresses important issues in a kid-friendly way without being preachy.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615666259
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Marshall Movement
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Unanswered questions and heavy-handed writing drain intrigue from this not-so-spooky story.
Three friends unravel old secrets lurking beneath the surface of a picture-perfect town in this young adult mystery.
Fallon and her best friend, Blair, live in the town of Whitford, a “sort of old fashioned” place where “everyone knows everyone else.” Nothing ever goes wrong there, except for local 16-year-old girls’ penchant for drowning in Whitford Pond on their 16th birthdays. That is, nothing ever goes wrong until Blair, Fallon and their new friend Lila start investigating the drownings as part of a history project. Soon after the girls paddle out to the spooky island at the middle of the pond where its victims are buried, Fallon discovers that she’s related to the pond’s first victim: Elizabeth Mason, who was engaged to the prosperous son of the town jeweler before her supposed suicide in 1750. By poking around the town historical society and badgering Fallon’s lively grandmother, Nana, the girls realize that something sinister lurks beneath Whitford’s bucolic surface. It’s only when the trio heads to the fourth floor of Whitford’s public library in search of A Genealogy of the Noble Families of Whitford: A History that they realize their quest is putting them in danger. Blair and Fallon’s friendship feels comfortable and credible, although the addition of “exotic” Lila seems like a strained plot device rather than a real-life event. Indeed, much of the plotting is convenient rather than clever; the girls’ discoveries primarily result from pushing Nana to give them information or snooping around Nana’s house—and the developments that aren’t related to Nana are foreshadowed so heavily that they come as no surprise. Another distraction: Every time that the inhabitants of Whitford scream or emphasize a turn of phrase, Fredo uses capital letters. They’re are unnecessary, for example, when Fallon says, “I JUST HAD THE BEST IDEA EVER!”
Unanswered questions and heavy-handed writing drain intrigue from this not-so-spooky story.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 172
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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