A pleasant, enigmatic extraterrestrial story that emerging readers will likely enjoy.
Barker’s debut children’s book offers an imaginative take on alleged real-life UFO sightings in Manitoba, Canada.
The author, inspired by reports of a mysterious red light in the Canadian sky in 1975, tells the story of an extraterrestrial encounter from the alien’s point of view. The curious creature, named “Charlie Red Star” by the Canadians, is attracted to the colorful planet Earth. He appears to be a hybrid between an aircraft and an alien—a UFO with big cartoon eyes peeking out the window—and he’s as curious about the humans as they are about him. As he gathers a following of curious, telescope-wielding humans, he begins to gain celebrity status, and although he considers earthlings to be simple-minded creatures, he indulges their curiosity with brief appearances on the planet. Throughout the book, Barker’s illustrations creatively alternate between Charlie’s bird’s-eye view and the humans’ ground-level perspective. As he switches the layout from page to page, it creates a dynamic flow. He also keeps the format consistently clean and airy throughout, making it easy for emerging readers’ eyes to travel across the pages; pastel drawings on black backgrounds, for example, create a simple but expressive outer space scene. The book’s muted colors and handwriting typeface give it an understated, sketchlike style. In some parts, the author changes the color and weight of particular words to emphasize points; for instance, often-used words, such as “Charlie” and “Earth,” are consistently printed in one color. The story’s lengthy paragraphs will make it most suitable for children making the transition from picture books to chapter books. It ends sweetly, although the author could have given Charlie’s adventures a deeper meaning; young readers may also be curious about the events after the alien’s visit. Barker answers some questions in an afterword about what inspired the story, and the open ending leaves room for a potential sequel.
A pleasant, enigmatic extraterrestrial story that emerging readers will likely enjoy.Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1460261958
Page Count: 268
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
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
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