For fans of the Ogglies only.
The Ogglies are back and want to attend school (A Dragon Party for Firebottom, 2016).
Firebottom, their pet dragon, flies them and Oggly-Grandma to school, where the students and their teacher, Mrs. Lucy, don’t blink an eye at their unusual appearance: green skin, huge bulbous noses, and three horns on their heads. In fact, when Mrs. Lucy gets an emergency phone call, she thinks nothing of leaving Oggly-Grandma in charge. With her, the class draws pictures, demonstrates their weightlifting abilities, and flies to the pond to have a mud-splashing contest and learn the mudpuddle song: “We’re gonna have a puddly party, / Gonna make it fine and farty, / Gonna make ourselves all yucky, / Noone’s ever been so mucky.” (The music and lyrics are on the last page.) Firebottom washes and dries the students, and the Ogglies declare that it was so much fun that the whole family will attend the next day. Dietl plays with the concept of a substitute teacher with unconventional ideas about how to teach, and his Ogglies, with their love of stink and garbage and grossness, will certainly appeal to the lowbrow humor of early elementary students. Aside from the Ogglies, there is only one student of color in the class of nine. The lengthy text is rather small (and inexplicably smaller on two pages in particular) and sometimes overlaps the pictures, making it difficult to read.
For fans of the Ogglies only. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-76036-023-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Starfish Bay
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests.
A lonely prince gains a friend for a quest to find a missing jewel.
Prince Lucas of Wrenly has everything a boy could possibly want—except a friend. His father has forbidden him to play with the village children for reasons of propriety. Adventure-seeking Lucas acquires peasant clothes to masquerade as a commoner and make friends, but he is caught out. His mother, the queen, persuades the king to allow him one friend: Clara, the daughter of her personal dressmaker. When the queen’s prized emerald pendant goes missing, Lucas and Clara set off to find it. They follow the jewel as it changes hands, interviewing each temporary owner. Their adventure cleverly introduces the series’ world and peoples, taking the children to the fairy island of Primlox, the trolls’ home of Burth, the wizard island of Hobsgrove and finally Mermaid’s Cove. By befriending the mermaids, Lucas and Clara finally recover the jewel. In thanks, the king gives Clara a horse of her own so that she may ride with Lucas on their future adventures. The third-person narration is generally unobtrusive, allowing the characters to take center stage. The charming, medieval-flavored illustrations set the fairy-tale scene and take up enough page space that new and reluctant readers won’t be overwhelmed by text.
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9691-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
This beautiful celebration of the importance of family will also spur young readers to reflect on history.
An African American grandfather and grandson take a time-traveling journey through U.S. history in this mystical and heartwarming picture book.
When his grandson announces that he does not want to go to school, Big Papa takes action. Sweeping him up in his time machine (which looks a lot like a 1950s-era automobile), the pair visit Little Rock and Chicago in the ’40s through the ’80s, the places where Big Papa grew to manhood. In recounting his struggles with dangerous jobs and working conditions and his trepidation at marriage and impending fatherhood, Big Papa gives his grandson a lesson in developing bravery while also teaching him the importance of getting an education. Love and reverence for history and family radiate from Bernstorm’s words. Backmatter indicates that the story is inspired by the author’s family, and he couldn’t have penned a more moving testament to their dignity and endurance. Evans’ whimsical, sunny-hued illustrations have a dreamlike quality that nicely maintains balance between the fantasy of time travel and the heaviness of some of the subject matter. This is particularly evident in the vignette set in the Arkansas cotton fields, where a fellow African American tells Big Papa to give up school because “work, that’s all you ever gonna do.”
This beautiful celebration of the importance of family will also spur young readers to reflect on history. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-246331-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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