A gentle lesson to always listen to your inner hero and help others do the same.
Super Manny (Super Manny Stands Up!, 2017) returns to tackle an important environmental concern.
Inventive raccoon Manny and his hedgehog sidekick, Gertie (“Small One” from the duo’s previous outing), meet every weekend to rid the world of dangerous foes. They snap on their capes and proclaim: “We are mighty!… / We are awesome!… / We are tough!… / We are smart!” They wrestle menacing veggies at the farmers market, save the museum from stampeding dinosaurs, and befriend a 12-foot-tall purple yeti who just wants to play. Throughout, the creatures they imagine are rendered in translucent monochrome tones, differentiating them from the full-color real world the children move through. The most difficult monsters are often found in the park. While in the middle of a daring rescue to save the pond from alien space turtles, Manny and Gertie see a real turtle with a plastic soda ring around its neck. They take a look around and realize the whole park is covered with trash. It must be the work of litterbugs! (Tiny, frowning, brown imaginary insects stomp around, messing everything up.) However, more alarmingly, no one else seems to notice or care. Fighting apathy just might be the most difficult battle Manny and Gertie have ever faced.
A gentle lesson to always listen to your inner hero and help others do the same. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5962-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Not all young readers will have experienced a blackout, but this engaging snapshot could easily have them wishing for one.
“It started out as a normal summer night”—until the lights go out, citywide.
When it gets “too hot and sticky” inside their apartment (no fans or AC tonight), one busy family (mom, dad, two girls and a black cat) heads to the rooftop of their building, where they find light via stars and a block party “in the sky.” Other parties are happening down on the street, too. When the lights come back on, everything returns to normal, except for this family, which continues to enjoy the dark. The plot line, conveyed with just a few sentences, is simple enough, but the dramatic illustrations illuminate the story. Beginning with the intriguing cover—the silhouetted family on their rooftop under a vast, dark-blue sky dotted with Starry Night–type swirls, black is used as both a backdrop and a highlighter. Page composition effectively intermingles boxed pages and panels with double-page spreads, generating action. Brilliantly designed, with comic bits such as a portrait of Edison on a wall and the cat running from a hand shadow of a dog.
Not all young readers will have experienced a blackout, but this engaging snapshot could easily have them wishing for one. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 24, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4231-2190-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
This gently magical outing will appeal not only to longtime lovers of European folklore, but also to fans of the popular...
In this gentle picture book, a sturdy, redheaded, rosy-cheeked girl searches for fairies in her backyard—and invites readers to come along.
Have you ever found, while out on your own… // A tiny, magical somebody’s home? // Or sensed a fluttering, flickering flight… / gone when you turn, just out of sight?” the protagonist asks. On each spread, the girl and readers search for fairies and other magical creatures; the girl “sees” the magic but keeps missing the little magicians, which will greatly amuse young readers, who will delight in spotting them. “You might leave an offering, / then you discover, / it’s vanished by morning, / replaced with another.” Here the girl misses at least three fairies as she gazes at a nest in the middle of a fairy ring. When the girl wonders whether the fairies are out there at all, the fairies finally reply—by placing a floral fairy crown on her head. Wahl’s old-time–y, vignette-style illustrations, done in watercolor, colored pencil, and collage, depicting vibrant woodlands evoke classic, Western fairy-tale tropes, and the playful, hand-drawn text reinforces the lightness and sprightliness of the subject matter. Though quite different in subject, Wahl’s sophomore effort is just as delightful as her 2015 debut, Sonya’s Chickens. Human-shaped fairies display a range of skin tones.
This gently magical outing will appeal not only to longtime lovers of European folklore, but also to fans of the popular “fairy door” phenomenon. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1527-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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