All in all, this is a fun one.
No one knows how it happened, but somehow, young Lucy finds herself falling straight down the mountain, and it is just as terrifying for her as you would imagine.
Readers first meet protagonist Lucy on the reverse of the title page as she begins to fall down the mountain, a tiny figure tumbling down next to the copyright statement. Opposite the gutter, in a closer view, she is seen to be wide-eyed and cold, and all manner of things are tumbling out of her backpack. As luck would have it, she meets a “mountain man” along the way who can throw her a rope…except he throws it away instead. Down and down she goes, meeting a kooky cast of characters (a “bungeeing duck”—who actually isn’t bungeeing; a “great, shuffling pile of bears”) along the way. Bright illustrations with vivid colors and a very expressive Lucy give this quirky, quick nonsense tale a whole lot of personality. Large type scattered across the pages along with Lucy and her belongings make it fun for new readers. Lucy’s personality shines through as she ultimately is able to save herself from her predicament, hitting the snow with heads and legs tucked so she turns into a “tiny kid comet,” even if she can’t rescue herself from puking (although kids will find this hilarious). Lucy has brown skin and straight, dark hair, and the mountain man is brown-skinned as well.
All in all, this is a fun one. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-374-30608-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
A disappointing follow-up.
Inventor Izzy Gizmo is back in this sequel to her eponymous debut (2017).
While busily inventing one day, Izzy receives an invitation from the Genius Guild to their annual convention. Though Izzy’s “inventions…don’t always work,” Grandpa (apparently her sole caregiver) encourages her to go. The next day they undertake a long journey “over fields, hills, and waves” and “mile after mile” to isolated Technoff Isle. There, Izzy finds she must compete against four other kids to create the most impressive machine. The colorful, detail-rich illustrations chronicle how poor Izzy is thwarted at every turn by Abi von Lavish, a Veruca Salt–esque character who takes all the supplies for herself. But when Abi abandons her project, Izzy salvages the pieces and decides to take Grandpa’s advice to create a machine that “can really be put to good use.” A frustrated Izzy’s impatience with a friend almost foils her chance at the prize, but all’s well that ends well. There’s much to like: Brown-skinned inventor girl Izzy is an appealing character, it’s great to see a nurturing brown-skinned male caregiver, the idea of an “Invention Convention” is fun, and a sustainable-energy invention is laudable. However, these elements don’t make up for rhymes that often feel forced and a lackluster story.
A disappointing follow-up. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their...
Ruby is an adventurous and happy child until the day she discovers a Worry.
Ruby barely sees the Worry—depicted as a blob of yellow with a frowny unibrow—at first, but as it hovers, the more she notices it and the larger it grows. The longer Ruby is affected by this Worry, the fewer colors appear on the page. Though she tries not to pay attention to the Worry, which no one else can see, ignoring it prevents her from enjoying the things that she once loved. Her constant anxiety about the Worry causes the bright yellow blob to crowd Ruby’s everyday life, which by this point is nearly all washes of gray and white. But at the playground, Ruby sees a boy sitting on a bench with a growing sky-blue Worry of his own. When she invites the boy to talk, his Worry begins to shrink—and when Ruby talks about her own Worry, it also grows smaller. By the book’s conclusion, Ruby learns to control her Worry by talking about what worries her, a priceless lesson for any child—or adult—conveyed in a beautifully child-friendly manner. Ruby presents black, with hair in cornrows and two big afro-puff pigtails, while the boy has pale skin and spiky black hair.
A valuable asset to the library of a child who experiences anxiety and a great book to get children talking about their feelings (. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0237-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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