bookshelf

THE KNIGHT OF LITTLE IMPORT

Name: THE KNIGHT OF LITTLE IMPORT
Author: Hannah Batsel
ISBN: 9781728450995

by Hannah Batsel ; illustrated by Hannah Batsel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023

Tongue-in-cheek and not at all of little import.

bookshelf

A young knight finds worthy work with help from sympathetic neighbors—and a fertile imagination.

So quiet is the tiny town of Little Import that all wannabe knight Charlie knows about monsters is what she’s read in her Big Book of Beastly Brutes. But that turns out to be enough to recognize the “Triple-Tier Hungerbeak,” disguised as a cake in the nibbled-over bakery; the “Frenzied Mudbull,” which only looks like a wheelbarrow in a harried neighbor’s plundered garden; the ticking “Furious Thundergong,” whose hourly chime is keeping the potion shop’s exhausted owner awake; and several more boojums. In collages made from embroidery floss, cut paper, sawdust painted green, and like materials, the author depicts common items transforming in stages into fearsome beasts before being “captured” by a small, anonymous figure in full armor and marched off…not to be slain, but settled in a monster sanctuary that becomes a popular attraction and gives Little Import bragging rights over neighboring Biggerborough. Along with racially diverse human figures, Batsel also tucks a marauding mouse in the bakery, a rabbit in the garden, and other rewards for sharp-eyed observers to pick out of her detail-rich scenes. Charlie keeps her closed helmet on even when otherwise dressed in a onesie and so remains racially indeterminate. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Tongue-in-cheek and not at all of little import. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023

ISBN: 9781728450995

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Carolrhoda

Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DRAGONS & MYTHICAL CREATURES | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
A IS FOR ANOTHER RABBIT
by Hannah Batsel ; illustrated by Hannah Batsel

bookshelf

WHAT THE ROAD SAID

by Cleo Wade ; illustrated by Lucie de Moyencourt ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 23, 2021

Inspiration, shrink wrapped.

bookshelf

From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.

Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.

Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)

Pub Date: March 23, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
MAY YOU LOVE AND BE LOVED
by Cleo Wade ; illustrated by Cleo Wade

bookshelf

WAITING IS NOT EASY!

From the Elephant & Piggie series

by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2014

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends

bookshelf

Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”

When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)