A kidnapped orphan races away to freedom. In an Arabian village, a little boy named Azad, who lives with his poor elderly uncle, fetches water for tea and tends to the goat before running off to play with his friends. His gymnastics skills attract the attention of a sheikh, who offers to train the boy as a camel rider. Whisked to the desert to live with a bunch of other boys, Azad competes in dangerous races and suffers brutal discipline. He and his camel Asfur become inseparable; one day, they win a race and keep going, until the men who have oppressed them are far in the distance. Boy and camel sleep curled up together under the desert moon and awake to the smiling faces of a group of Bedouins; Azad and Asfur have found a home at last. Pal's striking illustrations in watercolor and ink position sharply delineated characters in the foreground against soft, blurry desert backgrounds. Her heart-tugging tale also folds in a succinct social-studies lesson, and a brief afterword explains the controversial "sport" of camel racing. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84507-982-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
A mildly interesting way to introduce artistic expression to a preschool audience. (Picture book. 4-6)
A child’s inquisitive search for a lost pencil takes him on an imaginary tour.
Missing his favorite blue pencil, a little boy visualizes his way through “the land of lost things.” On his quest he encounters not just his own but a “forest of lost blue pencils.” Ripping a pencil from one of the trees releases a flood of dark blue color that spreads across the page. Wielding an eraser, the boy creates a newly white space to reveal a setting sun, green centipede and a butterfly of many colors—really his lost golden button, comb and scissors. Soon, still wandering in this strange world of mislaid items, the boy finds his flashlight and holey red sock amid a flock of flying ones as he follows the path to “a mountain of mittens” and walks through “a garden of lost umbrellas.” Still unable to find his original blue pencil, a brown one from his pencil box creates a new drawing of inspired adventure. The boy’s inventive exploration is depicted with whimsical art in digital collage, opaque watercolors and markers. The art creates the necessary fanciful atmosphere for this tale, as the bilingual telling lacks verve.
A mildly interesting way to introduce artistic expression to a preschool audience. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 31, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55885-690-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
An abandoned rowboat, not the titular lighthouse, is the link between an amiable bear, a little boy and his dog. The text...
Poorly paced text delivers a choppy story unlikely to engage readers despite McPhail’s familiar, endearing art.
An abandoned rowboat, not the titular lighthouse, is the link between an amiable bear, a little boy and his dog. The text begins abruptly, announcing that the bear goes to a beach waterfall “to wait for fish to come tumbling down.” A rowboat appears on the facing page, and because it “smelled good” the bear decides to nap in it. The sleeping bear in the fragrant boat sails off, arrives at the abandoned lighthouse on the next page, finds good fishing in nearby rocks and doesn’t notice when the rowboat again floats away. The boy and his dog find it, and while they are sleeping within it, they float to the lighthouse as well. No longer abandoned but occupied by bear, boy and dog, the lighthouse allows the threesome to save an approaching ship when they light the “nine wicks of the giant oil lamp” and use a “giant reflecting mirror” to make the light gleam.Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-525-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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