One of the prettiest paeans to the codex in recent memory.
This book quietly praises reading as a path to imaginative adventures while also taking several gentle swipes at high-tech gadgetry.
“And when your time comes to a close and the other world begins to call, don’t worry.” No, this close-to-the-final-page sentence does not refer to death but to leaving one’s book life for what some call “real life.” The beginning of the book makes it clear that a book is “quiet” and “ordinary”—“No buttons. No bonus levels”—until “you learn to look closer….” Thoughtful, poetic phrases are well-matched by mixed-media artwork that includes scraps of typed words in French and English, some of which are authors’ names. A black-haired Caucasian child in a red-and-white–striped shirt moves through a nonthreatening, fantastical world where “imagination scrapes the skies of opportunity, / the forests of what-could-be stretch beyond the horizon, // and the friends of fact and fiction make believe all night long under the milky stars of possibility.” Pastel skies lead to firefly-bedecked nights, adding a bedtime story’s allure. If this book is published as an e-book or app, some of its appeal will give way to irony. Its humor lies in such digs as, “It will never be sick, because viruses can’t catch it. // It will never go dark, because it doesn’t need batteries.”
One of the prettiest paeans to the codex in recent memory. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: July 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-939629-65-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Familius
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A well-written fantasy adventure for lovers of pirates and haters of siblings.
Crispin escapes to a world of pirates and dragons in Dickison’s fantasy-adventure novel.
Crispin, a boy around 10 years old, who is white with light-brown spiky hair, has a sister named Rose. She may want to play on a rainy day, but Crispin is already out the door and jumping into a puddle that transports him straight to another world. He joins a frog pirate crew and vows to find a magical sword that so far has eluded his grasp. “Now weigh the anchor, hoist the flag, the plans have all been made: Today we search the seven seas to find the LIGHTNING BLADE!” But before they can even cast off, Rose floats down from the sky on an umbrella. Crispin is against her being on the ship, but her offer of snacks and decluttering is enough to buy her passage. As she works, the pirates sail from whirlpool to jungle and from Lava Peak to Ocean’s End to seek out the missing weapon. Just as Crispin begins to accept Rose’s presence, a red dragon kidnaps her. Dickison’s debut as an author/illustrator has it all: a relatable sibling relationship, powerful treasure, and even cannibals. His depictions of Rose and Crispin in a world of lush color echo the magic of Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbor Totoro (1988). The rhyming couplets provide the story with a traditional lilt that lends it the timelessness of a classic picture book.
A well-written fantasy adventure for lovers of pirates and haters of siblings.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781591281078
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Canonball Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An engaging book about accepting endings and celebrating beginnings.
In Bray’s picture book, readers learn the value of starting and finishing activities.
Endings are hard. Many kids struggle with finishing one task and moving on to another, but, as this book points out, “THE END of one thing is the beginning of something else. And the beginning of one thing is THE END of another. And that’s okay.” The text offers more guidance than narrative, providing many examples of how the start of one task (reading, adventuring, matching up socks, and so on) means another is being left behind, or how being in the middle of things can be fun but eventually becomes a snooze: “Boredom is THE END of fun.” The art reflects the text’s sentiments but also tells its own story of a pigtailed, dinosaur-loving child who joyfully heads into a school’s summer vacation, has adventures with their cat, then returns to school in the fall and makes a new friend. (The unnamed child has light brown skin and straight hair; the friend has dark brown skin and curly hair.) Cleland’s illustrations are charmingly whimsical, and characters’ faces are beautifully expressive even though the protagonist never says a word. They’re a perfect fit for the playful, lively text that explains the good and bad elements of concluding things without ever talking down to its audience.
An engaging book about accepting endings and celebrating beginnings.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-951784-12-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Starry Forest
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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