A well-written fantasy adventure for lovers of pirates and haters of siblings.
Crispin escapes to a world of pirates and dragons in Dickison’s fantasy-adventure novel.
Crispin, a boy around 10 years old, who is white with light-brown spiky hair, has a sister named Rose. She may want to play on a rainy day, but Crispin is already out the door and jumping into a puddle that transports him straight to another world. He joins a frog pirate crew and vows to find a magical sword that so far has eluded his grasp. “Now weigh the anchor, hoist the flag, the plans have all been made: Today we search the seven seas to find the LIGHTNING BLADE!” But before they can even cast off, Rose floats down from the sky on an umbrella. Crispin is against her being on the ship, but her offer of snacks and decluttering is enough to buy her passage. As she works, the pirates sail from whirlpool to jungle and from Lava Peak to Ocean’s End to seek out the missing weapon. Just as Crispin begins to accept Rose’s presence, a red dragon kidnaps her. Dickison’s debut as an author/illustrator has it all: a relatable sibling relationship, powerful treasure, and even cannibals. His depictions of Rose and Crispin in a world of lush color echo the magic of Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbor Totoro (1988). The rhyming couplets provide the story with a traditional lilt that lends it the timelessness of a classic picture book.
A well-written fantasy adventure for lovers of pirates and haters of siblings.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781591281078
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Canonball Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings.
The Crayons head back to class in this latest series entry.
Daywalt’s expository text lays out the basics as various Crayons wave goodbye to the beach, choose a first-day outfit, greet old friends, and make new ones. As in previous outings, the perennially droll illustrations and hand-lettered Crayon-speak drive the humor. The ever wrapperless Peach, opining, “What am I going to wear?” surveys three options: top hat and tails, a chef’s toque and apron, and a Santa suit. New friends Chunky Toddler Crayon (who’s missing a bite-sized bit of their blue point) and Husky Toddler Crayon speculate excitedly on their common last name: “I wonder if we’re related!” White Crayon, all but disappearing against the page’s copious white space, sits cross-legged reading a copy of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. And Yellow and Orange, notable for their previous existential argument about the color of the sun, find agreement in science class: Jupiter, clearly, is yellow AND orange. Everybody’s excited about art class—“Even if they make a mess. Actually…ESPECIALLY if they make a mess!” Here, a spread of crayoned doodles of butterflies, hearts, and stars is followed by one with fulsome scribbles. Fans of previous outings will spot cameos from Glow in the Dark and yellow-caped Esteban (the Crayon formerly known as Pea Green). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Nothing new here but a nonetheless congenial matriculant in publishing’s autumnal rite of back-to-school offerings. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780593621110
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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