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 fun-filled take on a familiar childhood milestone.
Bonnie O’Boy’s dream comes true when she gets a bike and then must learn an important part of riding it: how to stop.
The title of Proimos’ novel for teens, 12 Things to Do Before You Crash and Burn (2011), is only tangentially related to this picture-book offering, in which Bonnie crashes after failing to heed Mother’s warning: “You can’t just go ride all willy-nilly.” Willy-nilly she goes, and ensuing spreads imaginatively depict her riding over bridges, mountains, elephants and more, and she simply cannot stop. Although it may strike some as odd that Bonnie needs no practice (let alone training wheels) to balance, they’ll enjoy connecting the aforementioned fantasy scenes of the bridge, mountains, elephant, etc., with toys and other backyard landmarks. Luckily, she only crashes into her little brother Charley’s building project. Her parents comfort her, her father helpfully saying, “Here are the brakes,” and in a pictorial nod to safety, Bonnie dons a helmet. Meanwhile, Charley rebuilds his play farm, and Bonnie again sets off around the yard. Throughout, Wright’s acrylic-and-ink illustrations employ a colorful, naive style to capture the exuberance of Bonnie’s first bike ride, while promising that although this initial taste of two-wheeled freedom may be the “best,” there are many joyful rides in store—perhaps astride her next secret wish: a pony.
A fun-filled take on a familiar childhood milestone. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: June 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3850-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
A visual muddle makes for an early-reader fail.
Animal friends save the day when a dragon’s birthday party gets out of hand in this graphic-novel addition to the venerable Step into Reading line.
Elephant Joe and Zebra Pete hide in the bushes so they can jump out to surprise their friend Dragon. However, instead of appreciating the birthday surprise, Dragon flies into a tree and becomes entangled in the branches. The two friends suddenly turn into firefighters, complete with a ladder truck, for the rescue. After saving him, the friends present the birthday cake, but Dragon sets it afire while blowing out the candles. With no fire hydrant for water, Dragon picks up Elephant Joe and flies to a lake, where the pachyderm’s handy trunk sucks up water to save the day. While the cartoon illustrations will draw young readers in, the story is hard to follow. How did these two buddies instantaneously become firefighters? It might be a game of pretend, but to literal-minded young readers, that premise will be unclear. Though the speech bubbles are fun, including a frog who seems to act as narrator is another point of confusion, as it’s not always clear from its dialogue whether it’s interacting with the characters or describing the action. For a comic-book early-reader to succeed, the speech bubbles and graphic elements need to make sense. The digital art is colorful and amusing, with the animals’ expressions and eye movements telling much of the story.
A visual muddle makes for an early-reader fail. (Early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37406-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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