An otherwise charming work with a flaw too serious to make it wholeheartedly embraceable.
Ruby has failed at her job as a tooth fairy.
She flies away at the slightest perception of danger, unable to complete her tooth pickup mission. Now she must start anew somewhere else. Her only option is an advertised position as a Dream Rescuer, which sounds even scarier. While waiting for her interview, she meets the other two candidates. Ralph is a reindeer, demoted by Santa because he can’t keep still, causing the sleigh to overturn. Mighty is a tiny man who was bullied by colleagues in the Super Hero Rescue Service. Oscar, the head of the Department of Dream Rescue, accepts this triumvirate of misfits on a trial basis, assessing their ability to rescue children from their nightmares. He carefully explains the details of their first mission, providing them with tools and step-by-step directions. They are to rescue young Emma from the nightmare dragon that chases her. Their fears and foibles almost overtake them, but they prevail. Mighty plans strategy and bravely starts the process; Ralph puts his speed and agility to good use; and Ruby overcomes her terror and saves Emma. Lloyd creates an otherworldly place with a delightful cast of oddball characters and magical, ingenious devices, further enhanced by Cooke’s deep–grayish-green illustrations. The characters present White, and the names of the Dream Rescuers’ clientele indicate a bit of diversity. But there is a jarring omission: There are doorways to take Rescuers to North and South America, Europe, and Asia but not to Africa.
An otherwise charming work with a flaw too serious to make it wholeheartedly embraceable. (Fantasy. 6-9)Pub Date: June 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-927018-92-7
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Simply Read Books
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales.
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (1965) upgrades to The Mice and the Rolls-Royce.
In Windsor Castle there sits a “dollhouse like no other,” replete with working plumbing, electricity, and even a full library of real, tiny books. Called Queen Mary’s Dollhouse, it also plays host to the Whiskers family, a clan of mice that has maintained the house for generations. Henry Whiskers and his cousin Jeremy get up to the usual high jinks young mice get up to, but when Henry’s little sister Isabel goes missing at the same time that the humans decide to clean the house up, the usually bookish big brother goes on the adventure of his life. Now Henry is driving cars, avoiding cats, escaping rats, and all before the upcoming mouse Masquerade. Like an extended version of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904), Priebe keeps this short chapter book constantly moving, with Duncan’s peppy art a cute capper. Oddly, the dollhouse itself plays only the smallest of roles in this story, and no factual information on the real Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House is included at the tale’s end (an opportunity lost).
Innocuous adventuring on the smallest of scales. (Fantasy. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6575-5
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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