A children’s tale that veers toward the sugary side, but the ups and downs of an anthropomorphic fire engine are...
A once-beloved fire engine regains a town’s affection in this picture book for lap readers.
When the town of Someport-by-the-Sea buys a new fire engine—bright, red Reddy with his big, red water tank—residents young and old (all depicted as Caucasian) are delighted. Helpful Reddy makes the town proud; he receives accolades wherever he goes. But after leading his first Independence Day parade, Reddy loses his luster, and admiration shifts to new acquisitions, including a snowplow and a road grader. The truck is renamed Rusty and eventually relegated to the end of the parade. How Rusty reclaims the townspeople’s hearts involves a hot summer day, an old friend, and a surprise repurposing of Rusty’s water tank. Adults may find the narrative a bit precious at times (the ladders go “Up Up Uppity-up”; the firehouse dog goes “Bark Bark Barkity-bark”), but Fisher’s (The Next Breath, 2014, etc.) prose invites empathy, as does illustrator Boswell’s understated suggestion of a face in Rusty’s grille and headlights. The author’s observations on the fickleness of fame come through with appropriate humor and heart, and the small illustrations are pleasantly rendered against ample negative space.
A children’s tale that veers toward the sugary side, but the ups and downs of an anthropomorphic fire engine are sympathetically portrayed.Pub Date: May 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9905678-1-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Angler Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
With the same delightfully irreverent spirit that he brought to his retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1987), Marshall enlivens another favorite. Although completely retold with his usual pungent wit and contemporary touches ("I don't mind if I do," says Goldilocks, as she tries out porridge, chair, and bed), Marshall retains the stories well-loved pattern, including Goldilocks escaping through the window (whereupon Baby Bear inquires, "Who was that little girl?"). The illustrations are fraught with delicious humor and detail: books that are stacked everywhere around the rather cluttered house, including some used in lieu of a missing leg for Papa Bear's chair; comically exaggerated beds—much too high at the head and the foot; and Baby Bear's wonderfully messy room, which certainly brings the story into the 20th century. Like its predecessor, perfect for several uses, from picture-book hour to beginning reading.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988
ISBN: 0140563660
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988
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