Doesn’t quite land.
An ends-justify-the-means story about a kid genius.
Albie is “a thinker from the start.” Funk’s playful, rhyming descriptions of his impressive toddlerhood feats immediately land this story in the realm of tall tales. For example, an early page reads: “Albie learned to speak a language almost every week: / English, Spanish, Hindi, Klingon, Gibberish, then Greek.” The other kids are well-acquainted when Albie enters school in the middle of the year, so he begins planning to “construct a special gift before the school day ends.” It’s soon apparent that despite his intellectual genius, Albie lacks social skills, and his achievements alienate others. Many are put off by his behavior when things in the classroom start disappearing, and he causes upset with disruptive activities. This goes on until Shirley sees what he’s doing in secret, and she convinces everyone to give him a chance and see what he’s been building. The big reveal is a spaceship time machine that sends them off on an adventure to close the book. Throughout, Garay’s colorful, digital, cartoon illustrations match the text’s silly, humorous tone but do little to expand or extend the story. Albie has light skin and black hair, and his classmates are diverse in both appearance and naming convention. Since the story is mostly about Albie’s genius and the distress Albie causes, it has the effect of distancing readers from its protagonist.
Doesn’t quite land. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2258-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
A funny David-versus-Goliath story with a one-word question serving as the slingshot. (Picture book. 3-5)
Doctor X-Ray, a megalomaniac with an X-ray blaster and an indestructible battle suit, crashes through the ceiling of the local mall.
Innocent patrons scatter to safety. But one curious child gazes directly at the bully and asks: “Why?” At first, Doctor X-Ray answers with all the menace and swagger of a supervillain. The curious child, armed with only a stuffed bear and clad in a bright red dress, is not satisfied with the answers and continues asking: “Why?” As his pale cheeks flush with emotion, Doctor X-Ray peels back the onion of his interior life, unearthing powerful reasons behind his pursuit of tyranny. This all sounds heavy, but the humorously monotonous questions coupled with free-wheeling illustrations by Keane set a quick pace with comical results. At 60 pages, the book has room to follow this thread back to the diabolical bully’s childhood. Most of the answers go beyond a child’s understanding—parental entertainment between the howl of the monosyllabic chorus. It is the digital artwork, which is reminiscent of Quentin Blake’s, that creates a joyful undercurrent of rebellion with bold and loose brush strokes, patches of color, and expressive faces. The illustrations harken to a previous era save for the thoroughly liberated Asian child speaking truth to power.
A funny David-versus-Goliath story with a one-word question serving as the slingshot. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-6863-0
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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