This exploration of ancient mythical creatures as potential pets satisfies with its double twist ending.
Miss Turie attempts to lure a boy into purchasing a magical pet.
Miss Turie guarantees that she always finds a match for potential owners of her magical creatures. The beguiling pet shop boasts an assortment of mythological animals: a unicorn, a dragon, griffons, a kraken, a golem, a chimera, and more. After introducing this range of colorful potential pets to a child who rejects each one, Miss Turie seems out of options and at her wits’ end—and her customer shares her frustration. Nothing shocks Miss Turie more than when the brown boy with dark brown curly hair points to a sleeping creature. “It won’t fetch or give you hugs or greet you at your welcome mat. Its claws and fangs are dagger sharp!” she warns. The boy’s mythical creature of choice is a friendly and adorable, seemingly ordinary gray tabby cat. Before Miss Turie can mention a last caveat, the boy has happily purchased his new friend—which leaves a trail of rainbows, sparkles, and stars behind them. Backmatter provides an illustrated glossary of enchanted beasts and their countries of origin, with the last page prominently dedicated to the cat. The cartoon artwork is colorful and blithe, with the fabled beings possessing as much personality as the eccentric, brown-skinned, big-hair-don’t-care Miss Turie.
This exploration of ancient mythical creatures as potential pets satisfies with its double twist ending. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-943147-41-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Innovation Press
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance.
A boy with wings learns to be himself and inspires others like him to soar, too.
Norman, a “perfectly normal” boy, never dreamed he might grow wings. Afraid of what his parents might say, he hides his new wings under a big, stuffy coat. Although the coat hides his wings from the world, Norman no longer finds joy in bathtime, playing at the park, swimming, or birthday parties. With the gentle encouragement of his parents, who see his sadness, Norman finds the courage to come out of hiding and soar. Percival (The Magic Looking Glass, 2017, etc.) depicts Norman with light skin and dark hair. Black-and-white illustrations show his father with dark skin and hair and his mother as white. The contrast of black-and-white illustrations with splashes of bright color complements the story’s theme. While Norman tries to be “normal,” the world and people around him look black and gray, but his coat stands out in yellow. Birds pop from the page in pink, green, and blue, emphasizing the joy and beauty of flying free. The final spread, full of bright color and multiracial children in flight, sets the mood for Norman’s realization on the last page that there is “no such thing as perfectly normal,” but he can be “perfectly Norman.”
A heartwarming story about facing fears and acceptance. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-785-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
A delicious triumph over fear of night creatures.
Pippa conquers a fear of the creatures that emerge from her storybooks at night.
Pippa’s “wonderfully wild imagination” can sometimes run “a little TOO wild.” During the day, she wears her “armor” and is a force to be reckoned with. But in bed at night, Pippa worries about “villains and monsters and beasts.” Sharp-toothed and -taloned shadows, dragons, and pirates emerge from her storybooks like genies from a bottle, just to scare her. Pippa flees to her parents’ room only to be brought back time and again. Finally, Pippa decides that she “needs a plan” to “get rid of them once and for all.” She decides to slip a written invitation into every book, and that night, they all come out. She tries subduing them with a lasso, an eye patch, and a sombrero, but she is defeated. Next, she tries “sashes and sequins and bows,” throwing the fashion pieces on the monsters, who…“begin to pose and primp and preen.” After that success, their fashion show becomes a nightly ritual. Clever Pippa’s transformation from scared victim of her own imagination to leader of the monster pack feels fairly sudden, but it’s satisfying nonetheless. The cartoony illustrations effectively use dynamic strokes, shadow, and light to capture action on the page and the feeling of Pippa's fears taking over her real space. Pippa and her parents are brown-skinned with curls of various textures.
A delicious triumph over fear of night creatures. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-9300-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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