There is much fun to be had sounding out words and guessing at their meaning and roots, as planet Harbat’s jabberwocky...
It may have a loose tarsnaggle, a sticky megalad and a hole in the flyjacker, but Frazzle’s Model 7 spaceship is positively flixsome.
A little alien—with his one great dewy eye, he's a dear, cyclopean ant-head—gets a flyary (diary) for his dropday (birthday), which he duly fills with the joys and travails of his first spaceship. Same as it ever was: The spaceship works like a dream for a few months, then starts to give Frazzle the vapors when it starts make strange noises. Good old Wurpitz Hoolo, the whiz mechanic, assures him that Model 7s are known for their harmless, if odd boinks, piffles and ticks. Young lards the text with enough otherworldly words—noteymaker to exboom to peepered—to keep readers on their toes and to beef up what is essentially a story about remaining true to your old and trusty friends, in this case a spaceship that gradually turns from sleek sky-streaker to old jalopy (“But I still bigheart my little ‘rugger’ Model 7,” says Frazzle), despite the flash and dazzle of the new. Adding to the endearment factor are Martz’s illustrations, as shiny and color-shot as ribbon candy, from Hoolo’s classic mechanic’s shop to the traffic jam on the flyway.
There is much fun to be had sounding out words and guessing at their meaning and roots, as planet Harbat’s jabberwocky attests. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55453-488-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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