Wish, imagine, wonder, hope, dream…and choose a different book about imaginative flights of fancy and appreciating the here...
A young child relates all the everyday things observed and encountered that spark a sense of wonder in this Dutch import.
From the back of a spring horse at the playground, the child spies a plane and thinks of “flying to faraway places.” Some cloud-watching leads to imagining “join[ing] the parade.” And while harvesting carrots (in the dark!), the child spots a white rabbit in the moon and wants to share. A shooting star, some butterflies, and a rainbow are more ordinary than the giant giraffes and less harmful than the balloon release that finds the child wondering if one might carry a note aloft. The ending is a bit out-of-the-blue. Although her pup appears in each scene, there’s been no interaction between the two, so the child’s declaration that “everything that makes me HAPPY is right here in front of me” rings a little false. It’s exemplary (and rather noteworthy) that only two scenes are indoors. Background people have diverse skin tones while the child has a red dress, peach skin, a dark pageboy, and bright red cheeks and nose. Indeed, the illustrations are a bit stylized and odd, with humans who mostly have noses that range from pink to bright red, almost clownlike, especially when paired with too-small cone-shaped hats with pompoms on top, as several people sport.
Wish, imagine, wonder, hope, dream…and choose a different book about imaginative flights of fancy and appreciating the here and now. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60537-431-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Staake ventures into “I Spy” territory with a set of big spreads teeming with tiny random objects, beaming children and silly cartoon figures, all rendered in a retro silkscreen style. Previews supplied through small die-cut circles on near-empty preceding pages give way to broad expanses of loud color and busy activity—linked to loose themes identified in suitably loud captions: “Weird and kooky THINGS THAT GO! Some go fast and some go slow! / Can you find the squawking crow?” Exclamation-strewn captions and a foldout list at the end invite viewers to try spotting specific items, but there’s plenty of eye candy here to reward random browsing, too, as the scenes shift from city streets to a haunted house, a robot factory to a tree studded with suburban bungalows and so on. Children overwhelmed by the visual density of Where’s Waldo? or the aforementioned I Spy albums will be drawn to these somewhat more open and visually groovy assemblages of images. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-316-11862-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2010
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.
Hannah Hadley is a young special agent who must thwart a clear and present danger to the United States in Hoover’s “smart is cool” young adult novel.
Hannah Hadley might seem like most 13-year-old girls. She enjoys painting, playing with her MP3 player and spending time with friends. But that’s where the similarities end. Hadley doubles as Agent 10-1, among the youngest spies drafted into the CIA’s Div Y department. She’s joined in her missions by her 10-pound Shih Tzu, Kiwi (with whom she communicates telepathically), and her best friend Tommie Claire, a blind girl with heightened senses. When duty calls, the group sneaks to a hidden command center located under the floor of Hadley’s art studio. Her current mission, aptly named “Operation Farmer Jones,” takes her to a secluded farmhouse in Canada. There, al-Qaida terrorists have gathered the necessary ingredients for a particularly devastating nuclear warhead that they intend to fire into America. The villains are joined by the Mad Madam of Mayhem, a physicist for hire whom the terrorists force to complete the weapon of mass destruction. With Charlie Higson’s Young James Bond series and the ongoing 39 Clues novellas, covert missions and secret plans are the plots of choice in much of today’s fiction for young readers, and references to the famed 007 stories abound in Hoover’s tale. But while the plot feels familiar, Hoover’s use of modern slang—albeit strained at times—and gadgets such as the iTouch appeal to today’s youth. Placing girls in adult situations has been a mainstay since Mildred Wirt Benson first introduced readers to Nancy Drew in The Secret of the Old Clock, but Hannah Hadley is like Nancy Drew on steroids. Both are athletic, score well in their studies and have a measure of popularity. Hadley, however, displays a genius-level intellect and near superhuman abilities in her efforts to roust the terrorists—handy skills for a young teen spy who just so happens to get the best grades in school.
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0615419688
Page Count: 239
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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