Aimed at families who believe in an afterlife, this tale shows the healing effects of dreams and imagination.
In this illustrated children’s book, a grieving little girl dreams of flying to heaven to see her mother.
Layla is a little girl whose mother has died. She believes that her mother is in heaven and wishes she could grow wings or fly on the back of a bird so she could reach paradise and see her again. One night, Layla has a wonderful dream that makes her wish come true. She grows delightful, fairylike wings, flies past the stars, and reaches a beautiful bright light, which she realizes is her mother’s love. Layla’s mother embraces her warmly, wrapping them in her own wings, making the girl very happy. The next morning, Layla asks her wise old grandmother about the captivating dream. Was it true? Her grandmother explains that “love is the light that shows the way” and “love is the reason angels have wings,” then wraps Layla in a big hug as they cry sad and joyful tears. Layla feels safe and loved. She does, of course, still pine for her mother, but her grandmother helps her use the dream to envision her parent’s affection being present in vibrant, cheerful things like sunlight and bird song. Kaufman (Bird That Wants to Fly, 2014, etc.), a board-certified pediatrician and psychiatrist with a specialty in child psychiatry, is the founder and director of Arts Medicine for Health & Healing, which focuses on transforming trauma through creativity. With her grandmother’s help, Layla’s imagination soothes her grief, which could be comforting for young readers. But it can be hard for children to accept heaven as an inviting place to go when adults are mourning intensely; it’s unclear how long past Layla’s mother’s death that the work is set or how fresh the sorrow is. Hutton’s lovely, soft-edged illustrations, full of prettily colored birds, butterflies, and flowers, add a magical effect to the story. In addition, Layla and her grandmother could be multiracial, allowing many different child readers to see themselves depicted in the volume.
Aimed at families who believe in an afterlife, this tale shows the healing effects of dreams and imagination.Pub Date: April 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5301-2157-1
Page Count: 34
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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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