A too-familiar offering that relies too heavily upon vestigial technology and not enough upon its own internal workings.
Two brothers must save their beloved dog from a fierce dragon.
One rainy day on a mystical island, sandy-haired, white brothers Flynn and Paddy’s beloved chocolate Lab, Coco, is abducted by a scaly red dragon. The next day, the pair set out to rescue their beloved pooch. Locating the dragon’s lair, they sneak in to save Coco. After the requisite close call with some fiery reptilian breath, the brothers retrieve Coco and return home in time for dinner and a tidy resolution. Full-page illustrations and small sketches accompany abcb quatrains, making for a pleasant if singsong-y read-aloud. However, Russell’s tale of brothers working together to battle a fearsome beast manages to be both vague and wooden. Striving to break the mold, this volume offers an augmented-reality component wherein readers can download an app and scan the map on the endpapers, bringing it to life with tiny dragons flying in lazy circles and volcanoes puffing ethereal clouds. While it’s an interesting gimmick, the story itself never fleshes out the boys’ “wondrous island,” rendering the AR component extraneous and turning it into more of a contrivance than a complement. This is the first in a trilogy; perhaps later books will offer more explanation and exploration than exposition.
A too-familiar offering that relies too heavily upon vestigial technology and not enough upon its own internal workings. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4861-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better.
Can flying puppies, fueled by people’s hugs, save the world from gloom?
Light-skinned Snarly McBummerpants is busy sending out Mopey Smokes (evil-looking dark brown clouds) from his volcano on the Island of Woe to create a sad state of affairs. But the caped puppies, each equipped with a rocket and hailing from “the outer reaches of NOT-FROM-HERE,” use their abilities to conquer the morose McBummerpants and bring happiness back to everyone’s lives. The meticulously detailed illustrations carry the story, dark colors turning to rainbow hues and frowns turning to smiles. From Big Brad to Tiny Brad, the smallest, most powerful puppy, who “[licks] a kiss right on the tip of Snarly McBummerpants’s nose,” these absolutely endearing pooches elicit a universal “AWWWWWWWWWW!” from all who encounter them. Joyce’s witty illustrations depict diverse children and adults who appear to hail from different decades. Two teenagers wear the bobby socks and saddle shoes of the 1940s and ’50s and sit atop a retro soda cooler. Other kids ride the skateboards of a later era. Laurel and Hardy, classic movie performers who may need introduction, are amusingly pictured as bullies turned florists (a little odd, since only Hardy bullied Laurel). Even McBummerpants seems reminiscent of an old-time movie villain. The text is less inventive than the pictures, but the message of good over evil is always timely.
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781665961332
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
A meaty tale of unlikely friendship.
A child’s love soothes even the most savage heart in this revisionist version of the classic fairy tale.
On the way to Great-Grandpa’s house, Little Red (short for Redmond Jasper Jones)—attired in red overalls, shoes, and cap—frequently runs into Fred, a large gray wolf who’s positively salivating over the possibility of a juicy meal. Little Red’s delighted to see Fred (the child dubs him the “coolest, biggest, fluffiest…KITTY in the whole wild world”); Fred’s just as happy to see Little Red, but for entirely different reasons. Fred’s constantly setting traps for Little Red, which the unaware child somehow manages to sidestep at the last minute. When temperatures plummet, Fred is injured while attempting to snare Little Red, so the child takes him to Great-Grandpa’s house. There, the youngster learns Fred is not a cat; bespectacled Great-Grandpa points out that Fred is in fact…a dog. Close enough? With plentiful meals and treats and a toasty bed, Fred is unsure whether his benefactor is a friend or food, but he decides to go along with it. Belote’s snappy text mines great humor from the gulf between Little Red’s trusting attitude and Fred’s clearly nefarious intentions; youngsters will derive great satisfaction from seeing what Little Red so obviously misses. The exaggerated art is filled with hijinks; the near misses will remind many adults of the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons. Little Red is brown-skinned; Great-Grandpa is pale-skinned.
A meaty tale of unlikely friendship. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593902431
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
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