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
The King hijacks a book...the very book in the reader's hands. The paint is barely dry on the words "Once upon a time" when the King charges into the middle of the page, swirling his bright-orange cape and ordering the story to stop. Calling for his story writer, he sets about finding a new tale, which the writer posits is at Beanstalk Crossing. Even as the reader follows this journey, pages are also filled with tentative plotlines and sketches of illustrations and even the King ordering the reader to "GO AWAY!" The writer's notes indicate a wolf and a beanstalk and a little girl in red. But the story really comes together when the writer finds the pages about the pea. (The next two-page spread shows the pea flying through the air like a comet to meet the King.) In the nick of time, the tale is assembled, with proper storybook type and inset pictures. Lewis's playful premise has promise and some delicious moments but, in hitting the same comic notes over and over, fails to take flight. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58925-094-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
No classroom clichés here. Rather, creativity and inspired teaching in full bloom.
Daydreams on the first day of school lead to a happy ending thanks to a refreshingly responsive teacher.
Suppressing anxiety, Martin’s mind goes a mile a minute, associations flowing freely. The teacher’s pink cheeks make him think of Mum Mum, a thought that leads the young boy to recall her beloved smile—“as wide as the river.” Water is fertile territory for a range of precisely described images and emotions, communicated with aurally pleasing words subtly constructed as free verse. Recalling the time his mother had borrowed his language about lightning for her own poem, he ponders her explanation that poetry helps “you put things into words that are painful or / wonderful or that you just don’t understand. / …they’re like kisses, tiny little / nothings that mean so much!” When the teacher interrupts his reverie by asking if he’s on the moon and whom he’s blowing kisses to, a pebble from the river gives him the courage to share his thoughts. The teachable moment involves the class drawing kisses (x’s) on the board along with the first letter of their names, the first step towards friendship. Large, round heads, recurring moons and a parting circular view underscore Martin’s marvelous interior world, as do the cheerfully surreal scenes of raining flowers and a smiling sky.
No classroom clichés here. Rather, creativity and inspired teaching in full bloom. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-92697-316-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
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