A silly, easy-to-read rhyming adventure for young readers.
In this picture-book series starter by author Martin and illustrator Walstead (Perk and Bing and Squirrel’s Sting, 2018), two bees are stranded in an acorn boat during a storm because their wings are too wet to fly.
One summer day, a rainstorm floods the valley where sibling bees Perk and Bing live. They’re stuck on the ground with only an acorn shell to protect them from the water. In the illustrations, the two start the story in their tree and intentionally go to play in the rain—a bit of mischief that isn’t noted in the text. They turn the shell into a boat and find themselves adrift. When they float by their tree, they call for help, but their mother doesn’t hear. Finally, they make it ashore to wait out the storm. Walstead’s cartoon images add unmentioned characters, such as a frog and a fish who assist the unlucky bees; Bing is shown wearing a backwards, blue baseball cap, and Perk, a pink bow. Some verb placements in Martin’s poetry (“The rain, it came”; “Sad and scared was Mother Bee”) may strike newly independent readers as odd. However, the lines still scan well, only changing their rhyme scheme for two pages, and the consistent rhythm makes them easy to read aloud. An illustrated glossary appears at the end.
A silly, easy-to-read rhyming adventure for young readers.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-984065-50-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Playful, engaging, and full of opportunities for empathy—a raucous storytime hit.
Readers try to dislodge a monster from the pages of this emotive and interactive read-aloud.
“OH NO!” the story starts. “There’s a monster in your book!” The blue, round-headed monster with pink horns and a pink-tipped tail can be seen cheerfully munching on the opening page. “Let’s try to get him out,” declares the narrator. Readers are encouraged to shake, tilt, and spin the book around, while the monster careens around an empty background looking scared and lost. Viewers are exhorted to tickle the monster’s feet, blow on the page, and make a really loud noise. Finally, shockingly, it works: “Now he’s in your room!” But clearly a monster in your book is safer than a monster in your room, so he’s coaxed back into the illustrations and lulled to sleep, curled up under one page and cuddling a bit of another like a child with their blankie. The monster’s entirely cute appearance and clear emotional reactions to his treatment add to the interactive aspect, and some young readers might even resist the instructions to avoid hurting their new pal. Children will be brought along on the monster’s journey, going from excited, noisy, and wiggly to calm and steady (one can hope).
Playful, engaging, and full of opportunities for empathy—a raucous storytime hit. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6456-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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