An amusing but uneven princess story about strict etiquette rules.
Three royal sisters get a lesson in etiquette from a feathered teacher in this sixth installment of an illustrated children’s book series.
The “Bobos Babes”—Angel Scarlett, Princess Daphne, and Fairy Cora—live in a happy place of peace and joy in the land of Harmony. One day, while having tea with their parents, the girls make a series of social gaffes. Princess Daphne gives a loud belch; Fairy Cora passes gas; and Angel Scarlett picks her nose. Disgusted, their parents arrange for the three to take etiquette lessons from Elizabeth the Emu, the kingdom’s most elegant creature. Their first lesson goes about as badly as can be imagined, not because the girls are trying to misbehave but simply because they don’t know the rules—and they’re quite silly. Elizabeth struggles to teach them proper place settings without using magic; to wait for their server to replace items dropped on the ground instead of picking them up themselves; and to exercise polite table manners throughout. At the end of the day, the girls feel the class has been a great success, but the exhausted emu needs support from her well-mannered family. The scenario that Bobos creates to emphasize the importance of rules is somewhat inconsistent—that the girls are shamed for natural body functions feels harsh, for example. But as Elizabeth says, “Having proper etiquette is more than good manners; / It is about being kind.” If more emphasis had been placed on that moral rather than the rambunctious girls and their gross-out moments, the message would have come through more clearly. The author’s consistent rhymes generally scan well, though sometimes the stanzas vary in rhythm. Hercock’s digital images feature cartoon characters against sometimes blurry backgrounds. While the illustrator strives to create an aura of whimsical magic, the different line styles feel mismatched. Readers interested in princess stories will enjoy the goofy humor. But the tale, which ends before the girls have grown and changed, may leave the audience wishing for a different ending.
An amusing but uneven princess story about strict etiquette rules.Pub Date: June 14, 2022
ISBN: 979-8985982206
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bobos Babes, Ltd.
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
One of the watershed moments in African-American history—the defeat of James Braddock at the hands of Joe Louis—is here given an earnest picture-book treatment. Despite his lack of athletic ability, Sammy wants desperately to be a great boxer, like his hero, getting boxing lessons from his friend Ernie in exchange for help with schoolwork. However hard he tries, though, Sammy just can’t box, and his father comforts him, reminding him that he doesn’t need to box: Joe Louis has shown him that he “can be the champion at anything [he] want[s].” The high point of this offering is the big fight itself, everyone crowded around the radio in Mister Jake’s general store, the imagined fight scenes played out in soft-edged sepia frames. The main story, however, is so bent on providing Sammy and the reader with object lessons that all subtlety is lost, as Mister Jake, Sammy’s father, and even Ernie hammer home the message. Both text and oil-on-canvas-paper illustrations go for the obvious angle, making the effort as a whole worthy, but just a little too heavy-handed. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-161-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
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