The dragons’ acceptance of the heroine’s reactions, their solid advice, and a kid-friendly elephant children can identify...
A young elephant deals with her feelings with the help of four tiny dragons who live in her closet in this debut picture book.
Ellie the elephant has four magic dragons: Naz, who assists her when she’s afraid; Nali, who consoles her when she’s sad; Tully, who helps her check her anger; and Hani, who shares her happiness. When Ellie is startled by sounds in her new home, Naz tells her it’s all right to be scared and offers tips on how to handle her fears. When Ellie is unhappy because her father goes to work, Nali encourages her to draw a picture to lift her spirits. When a new friend rips her picture, Tully suggests she take deep breaths to calm down. In Goodrich’s clever tale about coping, the dragons provide sound counsel (“We can always draw another picture,” Tully asserts). Each dragon is in a bold color, which Van Wagoner (Nelson Beats the Odds Activity Guide, 2019, etc.) uses to great effect in a paint-splatter style. The dragons leave trails of brilliant hues when they fly, but other colors in the beautiful illustrations, such as the purple of Ellie’s skin or the gray of her noisy radiator, extend beyond their characters or objects to enhance the pages.
The dragons’ acceptance of the heroine’s reactions, their solid advice, and a kid-friendly elephant children can identify with should resonate with young readers struggling to manage their emotions.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73285530-4
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Wisdom House Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
To all who have followed the adventures in C.S. Lewis' marvelous land of Narnia, this is a treat as it goes back to "grandfather's day" and tells how first contacts with Narnia were made. In London there was Digory, a boy who lived with a wicked uncle, and Polly, the friend with whom he goes exploring. At first their adventures bring near disaster for mad Uncle Andrew uses magic powers inherited from his grandmother to send Polly off to the Woods Between the Worlds. There Digory follows her and the two children meet Jadis, a which who accompanies them back to reality. In turn Jadis brings with her a peck of trouble for everyone concerned—including Uncle Andrew—until a chance fall into a pit transfers them all to Narnia, the singing land of Aslan the Lion, whose intelligence and love vanquishes all evil. Couched in Lewis' silvered prose, this is rich reading.
Pub Date: Sept. 20, 1955
ISBN: 0064409430
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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