Visually engaging throughout despite fairly underwhelming text.
A child discovers a fairyland in this tale that blends photography and illustrations.
Willow comes across a fairy door built into a stone wall at the edge of the town. No one else sees it—“They are far too busy rushing about.” When she touches it, “she finds herself in a great wood.” Willow follows the fairies and birds she encounters there through the seasons, watching them and learning from them. When she returns to the town, it’s as though no time has passed, and seeds she carried from the wood take root and transform the village with new, abundant flora. Now the villagers seem far more attentive to the world around them. Van de Goor’s digitally altered photographs of lush landscapes and quaint village scenes provide sumptuously detailed 3-D settings for this gentle adventure story. Tomai’s illustrations of brown-skinned Willow, diverse people and fairies, and forest animals have a contrasting two-dimensional quality to them. The juxtaposition of characters with the setting gives the people a feeling of paper dolls or little figurines set in the fantastic landscapes rather than being immersed within them. It’s a fitting effect that could imply that the story is the product of an unseen child’s imagination. Still, though the artwork is intriguing, the overall story and prose are lackluster, with little drama or tension. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Visually engaging throughout despite fairly underwhelming text. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781419765988
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Magic Cat
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance.
A boy with wings learns to be himself and inspires others like him to soar, too.
Norman, a “perfectly normal” boy, never dreamed he might grow wings. Afraid of what his parents might say, he hides his new wings under a big, stuffy coat. Although the coat hides his wings from the world, Norman no longer finds joy in bathtime, playing at the park, swimming, or birthday parties. With the gentle encouragement of his parents, who see his sadness, Norman finds the courage to come out of hiding and soar. Percival (The Magic Looking Glass, 2017, etc.) depicts Norman with light skin and dark hair. Black-and-white illustrations show his father with dark skin and hair and his mother as white. The contrast of black-and-white illustrations with splashes of bright color complements the story’s theme. While Norman tries to be “normal,” the world and people around him look black and gray, but his coat stands out in yellow. Birds pop from the page in pink, green, and blue, emphasizing the joy and beauty of flying free. The final spread, full of bright color and multiracial children in flight, sets the mood for Norman’s realization on the last page that there is “no such thing as perfectly normal,” but he can be “perfectly Norman.”
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Readers will delight in discovering the joyous time pumpkins have when it’s Halloween.
Magical moonbeams awaken a pumpkin patch to raucous Halloween-season revelry.
A moonbeam illuminates and energizes a smiley-faced pumpkin sitting alone on a stair; it promptly takes off to find a friend with whom to have a good time. An entire pumpkin patch, also sparked by the magical moon, instantly comes alive. And what merriment all the grinning gourds get up to! Their playful shenanigans include piling high on top of one another, bouncing on a trampoline, dancing, marching, and drumming, wearing costumes, and competing in games. They even engage in activities usually reserved for other holiday-themed icons—flying on brooms and making magic, for instance. As dawn approaches, the pumpkin leader escorts the cavalcade back home. At sunrise, each one takes up residence on a different house’s front porch and awaits that evening’s moonbeams to work their magic again. Liveliness and good cheer abound in this frisky rhyming tale in which the perennial holiday symbols naturally take center stage. Perky couplets that read and scan very well appear on most pages and are accompanied by energetic, expressive illustrations that highlight vivid oranges, yellows, blues, purples, and greens with touches of other bright shades.
Readers will delight in discovering the joyous time pumpkins have when it’s Halloween. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-56332-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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