An inventive, mild adventure for young storytellers and monarchs; for maps and information, look elsewhere.
A child and their stuffed animals play a geography-focused imagination game.
In Okunev’s debut children’s book, translated by Kolmakov, our nameless narrator’s multitudinous stuffed animals find a world atlas and insist on international travel—but instead, their child proposes that they study the principles of geography indoors. Walls become mountains, the rug becomes a stadium, the kitchen becomes a farm, and the parents’ bedroom becomes the “financial center” of the country. Illustrators Kolmakov and Baron alternate gentle pencil-and-watercolor paintings in soft pastels with more cartoonish acrylic-on-canvas paintings in bright colors. In the style of Winnie-the-Pooh or Raggedy Ann, the protagonist’s benevolent commands and explanations are taken in good faith by the toys; this fantasy of authority may appeal to young readers interested in exerting agency. While each stuffed animal has a personality (Little Hedgehog is sensitive; Owl is wise), the huge array of toys—crocodile, raccoon, monkey, shark, penguin, lion, elephant, rhino, turtle—prevents readers from getting to know any characters well. The author, a geographer, wrote about his field for adults in his recent book Political Geography (2020). He brings that knowledge and passion to bear here; however, introductory ideas about geography's purpose may need a clearer, more child-friendly approach. A few maps of the apartment and the characters’ neighborhood rendered from a bird’s-eye view occur throughout, but there are no maps of real places or vocabulary terms that might help youngsters read their own atlases. Prompts between chapters are oriented toward creativity: “How is your kingdom organized? Where do your toys live and what do they do?”
An inventive, mild adventure for young storytellers and monarchs; for maps and information, look elsewhere.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-66290-281-9
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Cute and brave—gee, Rot’s spud-tacular!
A “scaredy-spud” puts on his brave face.
All “mutant potatoes” love mud. Mud is good for playing games, eating, and even sleeping. But few taters have more tender feelings toward muck than Rot. À la Pete the Cat, Rot celebrates mud in song: “Mud between my toes! / Mud in my nose! / Mud is GREAT / wherever it GOES!” When Rot’s big brother, Snot, tells Rot about the Squirm that lives “deep down in the mushy muck,” his love quickly turns to fear. But he doesn’t give up! Instead, Rot imagines himself in various disguises to work up courage. There’s “Super Spud” (a superhero), “Sir Super Rot, the Brave and Bold” (a superhero-knight), and even “Sir Super Rot the Pigtato” (a, um, superhero-knight-pig-potato). The disguises are one thing, but, deep down, is Rot really brave enough to face the Squirm? Readers wooed by Rot’s charm in Rot: The Cutest in the World (2017) will laugh out loud at this well-paced encore—and it’s not just because of the butt cracks. Clanton creates a winning dynamic, balancing Rot’s earnestness, witty dialogue, and an omniscient, slightly melodramatic narrator. The cartoon illustrations were created using watercolors, colored pencils, digital collage, and—brilliantly—potato stamps. Clanton’s reliance on earth tones makes for some clever, surprising page turns when the palette is broken.
Cute and brave—gee, Rot’s spud-tacular! (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6764-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
A warming study of friendship, loss, and new friendship. (Picture book. 4-8)
With the help of family, friends, and passing time, Stella learns that “every goodbye… / …leads to a hello.”
The old adage “every ending leads to a new beginning” springs warmly to life as Doerrfeld’s gentle prose and soft, lively illustrations meander through an idyllic childhood. Young Stella may be reluctant to leave Mom and venture to school, but Stella quickly finds a best friend in bespectacled Charlie, and the two become inseparable. As seasons pass, they bid goodbye to beloved times and pastimes only to joyfully usher in new ones: Playing outside becomes playing inside, winter becomes summer, day becomes night. The repetitive prose pattern breaks hauntingly in the throes of Stella’s grief when Charlie moves away. Resilience, however, is this story’s driving force, and an ending montage of Stella mailing drawings to Charlie and meeting a new friend assures readers that every goodbye does, in truth, lead to a hello. Doerrfeld’s characteristically smudgy, minimalist renderings of homes, getaway spots, and school scenes replete with a racially diverse cast imbue the story with an intimate, timeless feel; Stella is South Asian, and Charlie presents white. If the text is occasionally somewhat saccharine in its optimism, it nonetheless celebrates the ups and downs of life with remarkable heart.
A warming study of friendship, loss, and new friendship. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55423-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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