Readers aren’t likely to be moonstruck by this one.
A child in turmoil takes matters into her own hands.
Light-skinned, red-haired Fae lives in a secluded cabin, lonely and aching for her missing mother. With only two silent mice, a talking bunny named Percival, and her nightmares for company, Fae struggles with anger and sadness while holding out hope that her mother will return. Her mysterious mother brought her to this place and, before she disappeared, told her stories from their old home, tales of the moon, dragons, and the blue rose. Those stories keep Fae feeling connected to her mother, so when Percival suggests that she find a way to honor her mother’s memory by the light of the full moon, Fae plucks the moon from the sky. This sets off a chain of events Fae could not have predicted, with wild beasts, long held at bay by the protective glow of the moon, once again going bump in the night, forcing her to finally understand her own mystical abilities and purpose. Fae’s expressive, innocent face contrasts perfectly with the more sinister characters throughout. Aureliani spares no time getting into the plot, building suspense and layering in the emotional complexity of Fae’s abandonment. However, this pace sometimes feels breakneck, set at Mach 10 to keep a low page and word count to suit a younger audience when the complexity of the tale could have easily been scaled up for an older age group.
Readers aren’t likely to be moonstruck by this one. (Fantasy graphic novel. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-4998-1328-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Yellow Jacket
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
A hamster with an irritating lack of social skills fails to alienate a cast of small woodland creatures in this strange import. Looking more like an undersized koala in Martin’s simply drawn scenes, Hamster opens with a wish that “in the heavens and on earth [a]ll will praise an extraordinary hamster,” then goes on to explain in his diary how much everyone adores him, to disinvite Rabbit to his birthday party, to blow off a shy confession from Mole and so on—until at the culminating party he takes a bow after belittling everyone’s gifts. Meanwhile, the animals gather to mull such Big Questions as whether worms can shed tears of joy. Within each of her large sequential panels, the illustrator surrounds small figures with generous quantities of flat, uniformly colored green ground and blue sky, punctuated by the occasional tree or shrub. All that wide-open space focuses attention on the dialogue, which sometimes offers insights into the character of each member of the cast but too often falls flat: “Squirrel…a nut. Just one? Hmmm, not so great, so let’s just forget about it.” Yes, let’s. (Graphic picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: July 20, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59270-093-6
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The dream phantasms of a high-spirited narrator intersect, even crowd, reality, but the stream-of-consciousness text makes for a rambling, radically personal tale. Playful images of a stuffed lion, trampoline, purple shoes, and a cat named Pine-Cone take hold in a young girl’s imagination, despite her “old” mother who makes her go to bed when she’d rather “stay up early” and a big sister with a cranky disposition. At home, she likes counting flea bites and pretending to be a worm, but is afraid of the dark and going to Grade One. The second half of the book takes off in a separate first-day-of school direction. Wild dreams precede the big day, which includes bullies on the playground and instant friend Chelsea. The childlike articulations of the text are endearing, but not quite of universal interest, and don’t add up to a compelling story; children may more readily warm to Gay’s illustrations, which include a dreamlike flying cat, a menacing hot dog, and an uproarious stuffed toy looming over everyday domestic scenes. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 15, 1999
ISBN: 1-55143-107-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1999
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