Young readers will kick up their heels at such frivolity.
Steinberg and Neubecker go for baroque in this tale of Louis XIV.
King Louis XIV had the biggest palace in the world, the biggest army, and the biggest parties, and he gave the biggest gifts. Unfortunately for someone who cared about size, “King Louie (which is how you say ‘Louis’ in French) was a shrimp.” So, in Steinberg’s humorous account, he compensates. His Royal Carpenter builds him a big throne. The Royal Hairdresser makes him the biggest wig ever. The Royal Shoemaker fashions ridiculously big heels for his shoes. And each effort at making the king larger goes hilariously awry. Predictably, the message of the story is that Louie’s size did not matter; the people liked him anyway because he had created a “proud and mighty nation,” where they were happy and safe. With no sense of real history, this silly, enjoyable story is enlivened with Neubecker’s bright palette and lively caricatures, the highlight being the full-bleed illustration of Louie’s wig, too big for the page to contain, later seen drooping in the rain. The endpapers, showing Louie’s colorful and high-heeled shoes, are a fitting visual footnote. Young readers will understand Louie’s desire to be bigger, to impress people with his importance. Unusually, brown-skinned people are among supporting characters pictured, although it is unclear whether they are courtiers, servants, or slaves.
Young readers will kick up their heels at such frivolity. (biographical facts) (Picture book/biography. 3-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-2657-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Kids will giggle at this clever ABC (note the B.C. in the subtitle) and will gleefully narrate the action out loud. F stands...
A madcap, prehistoric, alphabetic adventure à la Fred Flintstone.
With one word for each letter, the tale opens with a woolly-bearded man chasing a squirrel who’s running for an ACORN. But a BEAR chases the man back toward his CAVE, where a DINOSAUR chases all three and EATS the acorn, causing the squirrel to FAINT. Then the man rushes to a call for HELP from an armadillo-like creature frozen in a big hunk of ICE, but he’s unable to KICK it open. When the sun MELTS it, the armadillo becomes the man’s pet, but more trouble lies ahead. The cartoon illustrations enact each situation in one continuous comic scenario. The shapes are simple with few details; the google-eyed, misproportioned man wears a zigzag flounce, for instance. The word choices successfully develop the prehistoric premise except for X, which is an X-RAY of the man when he’s struck by a lightning bolt, but kids raised on Saturday-morning cartoons will just laugh at it. Q is for QUIET, and Z is for the usual ZZZZ for sleeping.
Kids will giggle at this clever ABC (note the B.C. in the subtitle) and will gleefully narrate the action out loud. F stands for FUN here. (Alphabet picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4027-7119-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
A warm, inspirational collaboration that will resonate in the hearts of all who dream.
Dreams do come true for a Harlem girl in the 1950s.
Mama works hard sewing costumes for the ballet dancers at the old Metropolitan Opera House, and her daughter delights in trying them on and whirling around in front of a mirror. She even receives special permission from the Ballet Master to take class. But dreaming may not be enough. The skies over New York City are not clear enough to see the first star, the wishing star, and—more to the point—“Could a colored girl like me / ever become / a prima ballerina?” Then, one special night, the little girl and her mama attend a performance featuring Janet Collins, the first African-American dancer at the Met. Collins first danced there on November 13, 1951. Dempsey’s expressive free verse is full of longing and dreams, all in the very believable voice of a ballet-loving girl. Cooper employs his signature style of textured art to lovingly capture Harlem in the ’50s. His little dancer is equally beautiful waiting for a city bus or elegantly soaring as high as the lights of the theater in a pas de deux with Collins.
A warm, inspirational collaboration that will resonate in the hearts of all who dream. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25284-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2013
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BOOK REVIEW
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