Dreamy illustrations and enchanting prose make for an uplifting, poignant tale of growing up and letting go.
A young boy sets out to solve the mysteries of life and discovers something more valuable than he could ever have imagined in Dumiere’s children’s fable.
An unnamed boy stands on a beach, contemplating the confusion of the world while swirling his finger on a spiral shell. That simple movement gets him swept up by the Bully Wind, who tells him that the only one who can reveal life’s mysteries is the elusive Fearful Gyre. So, the boy sets sail through the air on an imaginary ship he names The Albatross in search of answers. Throughout his journey, he encounters dangers (The Deep attempts to pull him under the ocean’s waters by bringing up sad, long-forgotten memories), frustrations (the bickering, three-headed Wee Tortoise-Shaped Cloud), and wisdom (the Mother Sun, Moon, and stars, who suggest that perhaps the Gyre is actually Death). When the boy finally finds the Fearful Gyre, he sees “Circles within Circles, Wheels within Wheels…the Birth and Death of Worlds.” These cosmic visions are accompanied by a mysterious voice urging him to “let go your self.” The boy does just that and finds himself back on Earth with newfound wisdom. Dumiere’s charming black-and-white sketches are just as fanciful as the story’s action, and the layout of the words on the page sometimes echoes the action (a descending “down and down,” for example). As uplifting as it is poignant, the text is also great fun to read aloud (“They plunge ahead as if by Bluster and Brass and the breeze at their back they might sail forever”). It is a simple childhood tale with a message of cosmic birth and rebirth that will echo well into adulthood, much like Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince (1943). Poetic in its execution and profound in its message, Dumiere’s odyssey begs to be read over and over again to uncover the layers of hidden meaning that lie just below the surface.
Dreamy illustrations and enchanting prose make for an uplifting, poignant tale of growing up and letting go.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 117
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn.
A young owl achieves his grand ambition.
Owl, an adorably earnest and gallant little owlet, dreams of being a knight. He imagines himself defeating dragons and winning favor far and wide through his brave exploits. When a record number of knights go missing, Owl applies to Knight School and is surprisingly accepted. He is much smaller than the other knights-in-training, struggles to wield weapons, and has “a habit of nodding off during the day.” Nevertheless, he graduates and is assigned to the Knight Night Watch. While patrolling the castle walls one night, a hungry dragon shows up and Owl must use his wits to avoid meeting a terrible end. The result is both humorous and heartwarming, offering an affirmation of courage and clear thinking no matter one’s size…and demonstrating the power of a midnight snack. The story never directly addresses the question of the missing knights, but it is hinted that they became the dragon’s fodder, leaving readers to question Owl’s decision to befriend the beast. Humor is supplied by the characters’ facial expressions and accented by the fact that Owl is the only animal in his order of big, burly human knights. Denise’s accomplished digital illustrations—many of which are full bleeds—often use a warm sepia palette that evokes a feeling of antiquity, and some spreads feature a pleasing play of chiaroscuro that creates suspense and drama.
A charming blend of whimsy and medieval heroism highlighting the triumph of brains over brawn. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-31062-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
