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
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience.
The How to Catch A… crew try for Comet.
Having already failed to nab a Halloween witch, the Easter Bunny, a turkey, a leprechaun, the Tooth Fairy, and over a dozen other iconic trophies in previous episodes of this bestselling series, one would think the racially diverse gaggle of children in Elkerton’s moonlit, wintry scenes would be flagging…but no, here they lay out snares ranging from a loop of garland to an igloo baited with reindeer moss to an enticing candy cane maze, all in hopes of snagging one of Santa’s reindeer while he’s busy delivering presents. Infused with pop culture–based Christmas cheer (“Now I’ve already seen the shelf with the elf”), Comet prances past the traps until it’s time to gather up the kids, most of whom look terrified, for a group snapshot with the other reindeer and then climb back into harness: “This was a great stop but a few million to go / Christmas Eve must continue with style!” Though festive, the verse feels trite and unlikely to entice youngsters. A sprinkling of “True Facts About Reindeer” (“They live in the tundra, where they have friends like the arctic bunny”) wrap up this celebration of the predatory spirit. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
These reindeer games are a bit tired but, given the series’ popularity, should have a large, ready-made audience. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 9781728276137
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2022
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A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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