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LIGHTS-OUT, LEONARD

Name: LIGHTS-OUT, LEONARD
Author: Josh Pyke
ISBN: 978-1-68464-062-1

by Josh Pyke ; illustrated by Chris Nixon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020

Too visually busy and abstract to help with readers’ own monster woes.

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A boy sees monsters at night.

Whenever his mom or dad says “Lights-out, Leonard,” Leonard—a White boy in a fox suit—cries “NO!” and wins five more minutes. The extra time doesn’t help banish the lurking monsters, nor does persuading his tired parents to leave his lights on overnight for a week. Even in a well-lit room, Leonard sees creatures that have many extra features and limbs: “five-nosed, seven-tailed, eleven-handed, scaly-waily.” Then someone places an instruction book on Leonard’s bed. Ways to frighten monsters include “Minty breath—this makes monsters feel so sick they shrivel up and disintegrate into a pile of dust” (clever parents!); stuffed animals, which eject monsters “straight through the ceiling and onto the moon”; and gentle music, which makes monsters “go flat like pancakes, and their ears dry up like old playdough.” Nixon’s art features sharp angles, inky purple-blues against low-contrast oranges, and so many discordant patterns that although the visual chaos makes symbolic sense, the spreads are too busy, with no particular place for readers’ eyes to focus. The multipatterned monsters are so abstract that they require effort to see. For deeper and more cohesive monster-conquering, go old-school with Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are or get Emily Tetri’s brilliant Tiger vs. Nightmare (2018).

Too visually busy and abstract to help with readers’ own monster woes. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-68464-062-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Kane Miller

Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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GOLDIE'S GUIDE TO GRANDCHILDING

by Clint McElroy ; illustrated by Eliza Kinkz ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 29, 2022

Intended as an amusing parody, this groans with outdated irrelevance and immaturity.

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While spending the day with Grandpa, young Goldie offers tips on the care and keeping of grandparents.

Though “loyal and loving,” Goldie’s grandfather proves to be quite a character. At Grandparents Day at school, his loud greeting and incessant flatulence are embarrassing, but Goldie is confident that he—and all grandparents—can be handled with the “right care and treatment.” The young narrator notes that playtime should involve the imagination rather than technology—“and NO video games. It’s just too much for them.” Goldie observes that grandparents “live on a diet of all the things your parents tell them are bad for them” but finds that Grandpa’s favorite fast-food restaurant does make for a great meal out. The narrator advises that it’s important for grandparents to get plenty of exercise; Grandpa’s favorite moves include “the Bump, the Hustle, and the Funky Chicken.” The first-person instruction and the artwork—drawn in a childlike scrawl—portray this grandfather in a funny, though unflattering, stereotypical light as he pulls quarters from Goldie’s ears, burps on command, and invites Goldie to pull his finger. Goldie’s grandfather seems out of touch with today’s more tech-savvy and health-oriented older people who are eager to participate with their grandchildren in contemporary activities. Though some grandparent readers may chuckle, kids may wonder how this mirrors their own relationships. Goldie and Grandpa are light-skinned; Goldie’s classmates are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Intended as an amusing parody, this groans with outdated irrelevance and immaturity. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: March 29, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-250-24932-6

Page Count: 40

Publisher: First Second

Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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GRANDFATHER COUNTS

by Andrea Cheng & illustrated by Ange Zhang ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2000

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Cheng’s story of a Chinese-speaking grandfather who comes to live with his daughter’s English-speaking family ably communicates the difficulties of the language barrier, and the unanticipated joys that come from working your way through that barrier. Helen is ambivalent about the arrival of her grandfather, Gong Gong, from China. She wants to know her grandfather, but she has had to surrender her room and her cherished view of the train tracks to him. Worst of all, he doesn’t understand what she says, and as she doesn’t understand him, he withdraws. Her mother says to give him some space and time. One day while Helen is sitting on the back wall, Gong Gong joins her, and together they count the train cars as the freight rumbles past. Contact. Helen learns the first eight numbers in Chinese and Gong Gong learns them in English. From there it is a short leap to Helen’s Chinese name and its Chinese characters, and then the letters used to spell Helen. That every journey starts with a first step is a commonplace conceit, but here the notion fits so snugly the point practically sings, and it feels like an adventurous beginning at that. Lushly colored artwork from Zhang is both elegant and captures the moods of tentativeness, surprise, and satisfaction. (Picture book. 4-6)