A pleasure for the eye; the ear wants more.
A bored child takes his mother’s advice, and as he becomes more observant of his surroundings, the garden transforms into a dazzling jungle.
Opening scenes depict black silhouettes (with white details) against a lavender background; they channel the delicacy and whimsy of Arthur Rackham images. It is a bright coral butterfly that leads Tom into a series of seven, intricate, laser-cut pages that comprise the dense jungle. Each of these pages is decorated on both sides, and the sequence gradually transitions from midnight blue to mint green, the leafy layers and hanging vines of the card stock creating an illusion of depth and distance. Exotic birds, fragile flowers, and animals (including a cat that morphs into a leopard) punctuate the coolness with spots of coral. Tom remains a black silhouette as he climbs a tree and swims in a river. In contrast to this lush landscape is a pedestrian, singsong text told in aabb couplets (translated from the French): “Why not take a look at what’s outside your door? / You’ll find lots of things that you’ve not seen before,” reads the mother’s initial admonishment. Returning home, the protagonist is excited about his “journey” and anxious to revisit the jungle, suggesting that imagination is an antidote to boredom. Since the premise is not new and there is not much action, this title needed a more skillfully written narrative to rise above the rest.
A pleasure for the eye; the ear wants more. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-500-65224-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
No substitutes for more traditional renditions—but not spoiled by the alterations, either.
Chicken Little may not be “the brightest chicken in the coop,” but he’s definitely not the only birdbrain in this version of the classic tale.
In East’s cartoon illustrations, Chicken Little leads the familiar crew of feathered followers (including Henny Penny, who often is the one to take the acorn on the noggin in other versions) in a comically frantic dash to find the king. But so badly does the decidedly shifty-looking Foxy Loxy bungle the climactic nab that not only do the birds escape, but Foxy is trucked off behind bars while the king calms the kerfuffle by pointing to the perfectly intact sky. The fox does better in the co-published Gingerbread Man, illustrated by Miriam Latimer, as he gobbles down his sugary treat—after which the lonely bakers take all the other hungry animals home for a “fantastic feast” of cakes and pastries. In Rumpelstiltskin, illustrated by Loretta Schauer, though the scraggly-bearded little man only has to spin straw into gold for one night, Alperin mostly sticks to the traditional plotline and ultimately sends him through the floor and into the royal dungeon so that baby Hugo and his parents live happily ever after. The illustrations in all three of these uniform editions share traditional settings, all-white humans, and bright, simple looks. The retellings are aimed at younger audiences, though by cutting the cumulative language in Chicken Little and Gingerbread Man to a minimum, the author drains some of the distinctive tone and character from those folk tales.
No substitutes for more traditional renditions—but not spoiled by the alterations, either. (Picture book/folk tale. 5-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58925-476-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Loewen’s story is a simple snapshot of kindergarten graduation day, and it stays true to form, with Yoshikawa’s artwork resembling photos that might be placed in an album—and the illustrations cheer, a mixed media of saturated color, remarkable depth and joyful expression. The author comfortably captures the hesitations of making the jump from kindergarten to first grade without making a fuss about it, and she makes the prospect something worth the effort. Trepidation aside, this is a reminder of how much fun kindergarten was: your own cubbyhole, the Halloween parade, losing a tooth, “the last time we’ll ever sit criss-cross applesauce together.” But there is also the fledgling’s pleasure at shucking off the past—swabbing the desks, tossing out the stubbiest crayons, taking the pictures off the wall—and surging into the future. Then there is graduation itself: donning the mortarboards, trooping into the auditorium—“Mr. Meyer starts playing a serious song on the piano. It makes me want to cry. It makes me want to march”—which will likely have a few adult readers feeling the same. (Picture book. 4-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7614-5807-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
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