Instead of dressing up an anti-smoking message in comic clothing, Ellen Raskin outdoes the Victorian spoof, using Moe's dangerous habit as an occasion for pure farce — and for parading her stylishly flamboyant menagerie. There are the vibrantly striped and colorfully attired zebra family Zack, Zelda Mae and Little Zeke, there is their rich cousin Moe Q. McGlutch, a donkey whom they visit in his domed and minareted orange-red palace, there are elephant fire fighters (required by Moe's frequent smoking accidents), an elegant ram serving ice cream, a billowing fish monster and — in the same shades of green — a dragon, attracted by Moe's smoke rings, who eventually carries the donkey off. Thus Little Zeke, who has been telling his cousin all along that he smokes too much, is proven correct — and for his wisdom inherits all of Moe's wealth. It's fun to read the pictures for details the words don't tell, but it's sometimes hard to see the smoke signals for all of Raskin's brilliant visual patterns.
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1973
ISBN: 081930686X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Parents Magazine Press
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1973
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This extraordinary book will make it hard for any child reader to settle for the mundaneness of reality.
A testament to the power of an imaginative mind.
A compulsively creative, unnamed, brown-skinned little girl with purple hair wonders what she would do if the pencil she uses “to create…stories that come from my heart” disappeared. Turns out, it wouldn’t matter. Art can take many forms. She can fold paper (origami), carve wood, tear wallpaper to create texture designs, and draw in the dirt. She can even craft art with light and darkness or singing and dancing. At the story’s climax, her unencumbered imagination explodes beyond the page into a foldout spread, enabling readers both literally and figuratively to see into her fantasy life. While readers will find much to love in the exuberant rhyming verse, attending closely to the illustrations brings its own rewards given the fascinating combinations of mixed media Curato employs. For instance, an impressively colorful dragon is made up of different leaves that have been photographed in every color phase from green to deep red, including the dragon’s breath (made from the brilliant orange leaves of a Japanese maple) and its nose and scales (created by the fan-shaped, butter-colored leaves of a gingko). Sugar cubes, flower petals, sand, paper bags, marbles, sequins, and lots more add to and compose these brilliant, fantasy-sparking illustrations.
This extraordinary book will make it hard for any child reader to settle for the mundaneness of reality. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39096-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perhaps youngsters who think they are more interested in football than reading will take the message to heart.
New England Patriot and literacy advocate Mitchell proves to have a touch of magic as an author as well as on the field.
It’s Family Fun Day at the library, and families of many sizes, constellations, and skin tones are participating. Amid book scavenger hunts and storytelling, a magician arrives. He is white and lanky, sporting a purple polka-dot vest and a bright yellow ascot. But most importantly, he has a very large, mysterious hat. He tells the children how he came to Family Fun Day when he was younger and read his very first book about magic in the library. Turning the pages and getting lost in the words inspired him to become a magician. He realized that it wasn’t just about spells and potions, but that books themselves are magical. Three children reach into the hat and find books about their future professions—Amy, a white girl, is a dentist; Matt, a bespectacled black boy, is a football player; and Ryan, a white boy, is an astronaut. The magician then turns the hat to readers, asking, “What are your dreams?” Previously self-published, the work gets a new look from Lew-Vriethoff’s bustling library and bright swirls of magic and bookish motivation. As an entry in the books-are-awesome genre, it’s mostly distinguished by the author’s clear belief in his message.
Perhaps youngsters who think they are more interested in football than reading will take the message to heart. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-11454-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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