A miss.
Is there or isn’t there a dragon in the closet?
In his debut as a picture-book illustrator, fine artist Palmer depicts a young black boy with a crown of dreadlocks atop his head and a big imagination. He’s convinced that a dragon in his closet is responsible for various happenings (leaving a dollar bill under his pillow when he loses a tooth, tidying his room while he’s out) and also for the mischief he’s blamed for (tracking mud in the house, breaking a flower pot, eating all the cookies in the jar). He tells his parents about the dragon at the beginning of the book, but after the cookie incident, his exasperated mother leads him to his closet—where they find a dragon-shaped pile of stuff. The boy steadfastly holds onto his story of a real dragon, deciding the heap of things is just a clever ruse. Ultimately, however, the story is confusing: is the child using this story to get away with mischief? Is he truly innocent of any mischief-making and ignorant of his parents’ tooth fairy and tidying duties? More problematic is Taylor’s forced, uneven attempt at rhyming verse, which undermines the book’s success as a whole despite its painterly illustrations and the appeal of a story about a contemporary black family.
A miss. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-57284-227-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bolden/Agate
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
Good bedtime reading.
Only polar bears are allowed on Polar Bear Island, until Kirby, a friendly, creative penguin, arrives on the scene.
On the verso of the first double-page spread, large white lettering proclaims against an azure sky: “Polar Bear Island was peaceful and predictable. Parker, the mayor, planned to keep it that way.” Below, Parker—paint can in left paw—can be seen facing his sign: “Welcome to Polar Bear Island. No Others Allowed.” On the recto, Kirby floats into view on an ice floe, with hat, scarf, and overstuffed suitcase. When Kirby arrives, Parker grudgingly allows her an overnight stay. However, she soon proves her worth to the other bears; she has invented Flipper Slippers, which keep extremities warm and reverse from skates to snowshoes. Now Kirby is allowed to stay and help the bears make their own Flipper Slippers. When her family shows up with more inventions, Parker feels compelled to give them a week. (Presumably, the penguins have made the 12,430-mile-trip from the South Pole to the North Pole, characterized merely as “a long journey.”) A minor crisis permanently changes Parker’s attitudes about exclusivity. The text is accessible and good fun to read aloud. The weakness of the ostensible theme of granting welcome to newcomers lies in the fact that all the newcomers are immediately, obviously useful to the bears. The cartoonlike, scratchboard-ish graphics are lighthearted and full of anthropomorphic touches.
Good bedtime reading. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2870-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A forgettable tale.
Dot, the smallest reindeer at the North Pole, is too little to fly with the reindeer team on Christmas Eve, but she helps Santa in a different, unexpected way.
Dot is distressed because she can’t jump and fly like the other, bigger reindeer. Her family members encourage her and help her practice her skills, and her mother tells her, “There’s always next year.” Dot’s elf friend, Oliver, encourages her and spends time playing with her, doing things that Dot can do well, such as building a snowman and chasing their friend Yeti (who looks like a fuzzy, white gumdrop). On Christmas Eve, Santa and the reindeer team take off with their overloaded sleigh. Only Dot notices one small present that’s fallen in the snow, and she successfully leaps into the departing sleigh with the gift. This climactic flying leap into the sleigh is not adequately illustrated, as Dot is shown just starting to leap and then already in the sleigh. A saccharine conclusion notes that being little can sometimes be great and that “having a friend by your side makes anything possible.” The story is pleasant but predictable, with an improbably easy solution to Dot’s problem. Illustrations in a muted palette are similarly pleasant but predictable, with a greeting-card flavor that lacks originality. The elf characters include boys, girls, and adults; all the elves and Santa and Mrs. Claus are white.
A forgettable tale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-15738-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
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