A sweet but never cloying tale of a student witch, playfully illustrated.
With simple rhymes and a gentle spirit, veteran children’s author Cobb (Daddy Did I Ever Say? I Love You, Love You, Every Day, 2012, etc.) offers an enjoyable story of a witch-in-training whose good intentions go awry.
Little Greta Grohm, a student at Wilhelm’s Magic Academy for “magically gifted witches, warlocks and more,” discovers a lonely cat hiding under a car one rainy day. She names him Hamlet and brings him home, confident that her bird friends, Ray and Dew, will be delighted by the new addition to the family. At their first meeting, however, the birds squawk, Hamlet hisses, and general pandemonium breaks out. What to do? Greta, an apprentice witch, waves her wand and tries a spell—and accidentally zaps Hamlet into a painting of sunflowers. She asks her talking magic book for help, and it responds, “What is it now! / Did you turn your mom / into a dog, or the / dog into a cow?” Unfortunately, Greta doesn’t listen to the spell book’s instructions carefully enough, and transports herself, Ray and Dew into the painting. Ray and Drew comfort apologetic Greta (“They flew onto her shoulders, / Ray kissed her with his beak. / Dew then wiped a tear away / as it rolled down her cheek”). The birds, who paid close attention, finally steer Greta in the right direction, and the crisis has a happily-ever-after resolution. This pleasant, engaging story provides valuable messages about friendship and the importance of good listening. Artist Pentangelo’s colorful, playfully skewed images underscore the text’s comical tone and contain numerous small details that attentive readers will enjoy: Greta’s fuzzy kitty slippers, daisy-trimmed skirt and rain boots, her umbrella’s tiny fish decorations, and sunflowers growing out of cups, books and shoes.
A sweet but never cloying tale of a student witch, playfully illustrated.Pub Date: April 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615796321
Page Count: 46
Publisher: 10 to 2 Children's Books
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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