This is one journey to skip.
A child embarks on an imaginary international journey, using many conveyances, in recalling all the items lost on previous trips.
The text, originally French, is in four-line stanzas, mostly in an aabb rhyming pattern, that are occasionally awkward in English: “In the deep, black waters of Loch Ness, / my mind wandered off and I forgot my address! / When I saw a yeti trying to get a fishy bite, / my stomach floated off and I lost my appetite.” In the accompanying spread, the child helms a yellow submarine, a green Nessie swims nearby, and a large white creature on a boat tries to grab fish with a net. Two fish have some writing on their bodies: the forgotten address? Happily, there appears to be no image of the stomach or the appetite that has floated off. Although the last page, with its short list of facts about some places mentioned, instructs readers to look for the lost items, some ephemeral items seem impossible to find. Concrete objects can be found with close looking: a jacket at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a scarf around the neck of the Statue of Liberty, both mentioned in the accompanying text. Some items are more metaphorical. Can readers “find my mind” as the girl requests, when she ventures into outer space? Although the whimsical multimedia illustrations are often engaging, this world journey offers little engagement with people and a very cursory view of iconic sights.
This is one journey to skip. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4598-2178-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
While not exactly novel, it’s well-executed and very funny.
The Princess in Black’s cutest adventure yet—no, really, the monsters are deceptively cute.
While Princess Magnolia and unicorn Frimplepants are on their way to a much anticipated brunch with Princess Sneezewort, Magnolia’s monster alarm goes off, forcing an emergency costume change on her and Frimplepants to become the Princess in Black and her faithful steed, Blacky. They rush to rescue goat boy Duff, hoping to save the day in time for doughnuts. However, when they arrive, instead of monsters they see a field full of adorable bunnies. Pham’s illustrations give the bunnies wide-eyed innocence and little puffballs on the tips of their ears. Duff tries to explain that they’re menaces from Monster Land that eat everything (all the grass, a tree, a goat’s horn…), but the Princess has trouble imagining that monsters might come in such a cute package. By the time she does, there are too many to fight! Humor comes from the juxtaposed danger and adorableness. Just when the bunnies decide to eat the Princess, Blacky—who, as Frimplepants, is fluent in Cuteness—communicates that she’s not food and persuades the bunnies to return to Monster Land. While Princess Magnolia and Frimplepants are too late for brunch, Princess Sneezewort gets the consolation prize of lunch with the Princess in Black and Blacky.
While not exactly novel, it’s well-executed and very funny. (Fantasy. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6513-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
A few moments of distress capped by a happy ending and an iced lolly—all stories should end so well.
A communal effort reunites a lost child with her mother in this invitingly told and illustrated import.
On their weekly outing to buy vegetables, young Bela suddenly loses sight of her quick-moving mother. Her cries attract a boy with a goat (the goat also bleats “Ma!”), a tightrope walker and others who link hands to form a chain of helpers: “ ‘I see her Ma, she is walking near the peepal tree!’ ‘He sees her Ma near the peepal tree!’ ‘Her Ma! Peepal tree!’ ” With each Ma spotting, she runs from one landmark to another until at last she hears her name called. Bela’s “I found her!” and “Thank you!” pass back down the line as she rejoins her mother at the iced-lolly cart, and the two stroll home together. Using warm reds and golds as predominant colors, Gupta depicts uncrowded market scenes from, often, elevated angles so that Bela and her mother are both visible to viewers. Bela wears a spotted shift and her mother, a blue and yellow “saree”; other figures display a similar mix of modern and traditional garb. Bela’s plight is taken seriously, but the overall tone is relaxed. It’s lightened further by visual parallels between the delicate curlicues in the roofs and walls of the long rows of market stalls and the extravagantly curled mustaches sported by most of the men.
A few moments of distress capped by a happy ending and an iced lolly—all stories should end so well. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-81-8190-295-5
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Karadi Tales
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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