Magnus Magpie lives on a faraway hill in a lonely tree. By day, he slurps worms and hunts pheasants, and by night he goes...
When a burglar bird goes after the object of his dreams, he learns a valuable lesson.
Magnus Magpie lives on a faraway hill in a lonely tree. By day, he slurps worms and hunts pheasants, and by night he goes out thieving. Magnus has stolen an emerald egg cup, a pinnacle from the Taj Mahal and a shimmering slipper—right off a ballerina's foot. What Magnus wants most of all is the moon, seeing it as the ultimate treasure. One night, he flies higher than he's ever flown before and, exhausted, reaches the moon. But it's not shiny at all; it's dusty and gray and covered with rocks. Magnus begins to cry. Far off in the distance, he spots something shiny and dazzling: It's home! He flies back as fast as he can and makes a beeline for his tree, where he finds a glossy female magpie enjoying a breakfast of beetles. (Readers know she's a female because she has long eyelashes.) All the things Magnus has stolen seem to have lost their sparkle, and he returns them. This leaves more room for his new tree-mate and their hungry magpie baby. Bright colors explode in Slater's illustrations, made in mixed-media collage, which have a slightly three-dimensional effect.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84939-008-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Andersen/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2011
Never have expectations been more thoroughly set up, and then gleefully confounded.
Ever a guilty pleasure anyway, the popular but violent preschool hand rhyme takes a gothic turn in this startling iteration.
Doerrfeld concocts an oh-so-sweet visual story line for the lyric, setting a snub-nosed, big-eyed bunny baker off in pursuit of a crew of cute little cupcake rustlers. At first Little Bunny delivers only gentle cuffs with her oven mitt as she recovers the cupcakes, and she shows remorse when the pink-haired, pink-cheeked Good Fairy descends to warn that she’ll be turned into a monster if she keeps it up. But as the mice, joined by several birds and squirrels, continue to snatch bites, Foo Foo’s mild annoyance intensifies to such outright rage that the climactic transformation definitely turns out to be a tactical mistake on the Good Fairy’s part. Bright, simply painted pictures set the chase on a pleasant sward with an open, woodsy backdrop populated by relentlessly adorable little creatures, none of whom appear to be more than momentarily discomforted by all that bopping.
Never have expectations been more thoroughly set up, and then gleefully confounded. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3470-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
PROFILES
In a fit of metafictional worldbuilding, Farmer and four animals march gaily onto blank pages and proceed in steps to build a barn, pour out brown fields (from a bag of “Instant Farm Field”), plant tall cornstalks and haystacks, erect a scarecrow (a princess, thanks to Miss Cow) and finally paint in an evening sky. The five then march back to their bedroom for a snack and a quick bedtime recap of the day’s activities from Chicken, leaving the farm all set to be the background for further stories in the morning. Each composed from several pieces that aren’t always quite attached, Anderson’s loose-jointed cartoon figures labor—or in Farmer’s case goof off and make silly comments—in simple, increasingly full surroundings. Rounded off with a panoramic view of the deserted barnyard with a “Welcome to Story County!” sign posted in the foreground and a cozy final view of Chicken rocking her eggs to sleep, here’s a cheery invitation to children to imagine stories or story stages of their own. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-545-16844-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2010
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