Timely assurance of the impermanence of life’s difficulties.
A young boy joins his great-uncle on a marvelous and fraught sailing adventure.
Crue is a little worried. His favorite uncle is taking him on a magical journey to the island of Mashore, but the trip will be long, and so much could go wrong in a boat on the sea. When storms and churning seas toss the pair’s small craft, Crue holds tight to Uncle Ollie, who assures him that the upheaval and fear won't last forever—“Be calm, it will pass.” Throughout the journey’s ups and downs, dangers and thrills, Uncle Ollie’s refrain helps quell Crue’s fears, especially when Crue must make the return journey on his own. Unlike many picture books that seek to comfort young audiences by assuring them that their apprehensions are unfounded, Donnini’s quiet prose shows readers that worry is a feeling as valid as any other. A thoughtful author’s note offers some anxiety-reduction tips for caregivers. Scriven’s lively illustrations strike an impressive balance between exuberance and softness, rollicking spreads and stark white space, providing a vibrant landscape of imaginative play as well as very real emotion. Crue and Uncle Ollie have tan skin and straight brown hair, while the small secondary cast has varying skin tones. Readers won’t find depth of plot or a heavy veil of metaphor here; the world is an increasingly worrisome place, and books like this one, that offer simple acknowledgement of this fact, are just as essential as those that offer elaborate escape. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Timely assurance of the impermanence of life’s difficulties. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: April 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63819-089-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bushel & Peck Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
An innocuous telling, sure to slip in effortlessly with other firetruck books.
A little fire engine discovers what it’s good at by eliminating what it is not.
Who knew disappointment could be such a keen teaching tool? Narrator Flash is eager to demonstrate firefighting prowess, but every attempt to “save the day” yields bubkes. First Flash is too little to handle a fire at the airport (Crash, an airport crash tender, handles that one). Next Flash is too short to help a tall building that’s on fire (that honor goes to Laddie, a turntable ladder). Finally, an airplane and a foam tender together solve a forest-fire problem. Only when a bridge is suddenly blocked by snow, with all the other trucks on the wrong side of it, does Flash have the opportunity to save a pet shelter that’s ablaze. (Readers will note characters in shirtsleeves at the beginning of the book, so this is a very unexpected snowstorm.) Calvert deftly finds a new way to introduce kids to different kinds of firefighting vehicles by setting up Flash in opposition to situations where it’s just not the best truck for the job. The anthropomorphized engines and planes irritatingly include unnecessary eyelashes on trucks with feminine pronouns, but this is mitigated by the fact that the girls get cool names like “Crash” and save the day first. Enthusiastic if unremarkable digital art presents both firefighters and citizens in an array of genders and races.
An innocuous telling, sure to slip in effortlessly with other firetruck books. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-4178-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Readers will be charmed as Harold draws himself in and out of trouble and finally home to bed in this subtle blend of...
Harold takes a walk in the moonlight down the path of imagination and although this time the bunnies hop and the winds blow, nothing of the dreamy simplicity of the journey is lost.
Elegantly adapted by Trilogy Studios to the iPad and featuring the same minimalist lines of Johnson's 1955 original, this app allows children to join in as Harold wields his purple crayon to create his gently perilous adventure. Along the way, the many hidden interactions allow readers to animate the scenes, shaking apples from the tree and making the guard dragon catch them in his mouth. Kids can fill the moonlit sky with stars and zoom in on hatchling birds in the mountains; they can cause a swirling wind to fill the sails of Harold's boat and help him sample all nine flavors of pie. All the while, it maintains the flavor of a simple line-drawn story. When touched, most objects and characters are identified both verbally and in text to add an extra level of learning for early readers. Options include Read to Me, in which each word appears as it is spoken by the narrator; Touch Tale, a fully interactive version prefaced with a clear tutorial; and Read to Myself. All modes are accompanied by tinkly music.
Readers will be charmed as Harold draws himself in and out of trouble and finally home to bed in this subtle blend of animation and story. (iPad storybook app. 2-5)Pub Date: July 30, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Trill Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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