Owen loves his blanket "with all his heart.'' "Fuzzy'' goes where he goes and likes what he likes—"grape juice, chocolate milk...'' Leaning over the back fence, nosy Mrs. Tweezers "fills his parents in'' on various cures for Owen's affection—the "Blanket Fairy'' (Fuzzy survives safely inside Owen's pajama pants); the "vinegar trick'' (Owen finds a new favorite corner to cuddle). Meanwhile, he continues to share every experience, real or fanciful, with his beloved rag until, when it's time to begin school, his understanding mother transforms Fuzzy into handkerchiefs that Owen can carry—and hang onto or politely touch to his nose—wherever he goes. Once again, Henkes's engaging characters are mice, depicted with wonderfully warm humor and subtlety; their gentle negotiations and perfectly tuned dialogue are entirely human. A delectably amusing look at a true first love. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-11449-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1993
Far-fetched but satisfying.
This lighthearted tale of a child reared by sea lions is completely outlandish yet manages to capably address very real feelings about belonging and identity.
Leo, a young, white, blond boy, is pictured flying out of a boat during a storm even before the title page; he’s subsequently taken in by a family of sea lions. This looks like kid heaven—bodysurfing with sea lion pups, romping in a whale’s spout, and sleeping under the stars—but Leo feels and looks “different,” until he meets ”a creature who looked like him.” This creature, a young biracial, brown-skinned girl with hair in two ponytail puffs, really does look like him: They are both human. Once reunited with his human family, Leo is happy again, but as before, something is amiss. He still says “Ark! Ark!” and misses “his other family…and the sea.” Not explicitly about transracial adoption or blended families, this is about a child longing to belong, and the simultaneous feelings of happiness and alienation here ring true. Vogel’s stylized digital illustrations have an appealingly cartoonish look, with googly eyes on both humans and animals. Humorous scenarios (Leo sitting in a restaurant seafood tank; a sea lion in the bathtub with a gull on its head) visually portray the contrasts Leo feels. The happy ending, when Leo’s human family moves to the seaside so people and sea creatures can live together, is perhaps unrealistically optimistic, but this is a story of a child raised by sea lions, after all.
Far-fetched but satisfying. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-0260-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A delightful tale for dog lovers with less-than-perfect pooches.
Move over, Clifford the Big Red Dog and Good Dog, Carl: Nanny Paws knows exactly what to do for the kids in her care!
Ally and Mae, elementary-age twins, need never worry about who will wash their faces, clear the table, or walk them to school. Nanny Paws has it all under control. But while the narrator tells the story from the perspective of this energetic pink poodle, the illustrations deliver quite another story. When Nanny Paws does “a little gardening,” the illustration shows her digging a hole in the backyard to bury the twins’ stuffed animal she has just destroyed. Nanny Paws says she keeps busy after taking the twins to school, but readers see her sprawled on her back, paws skyward (muddied from “gardening”), sound asleep on top of an enormous pile of laundry. In every instance, this pampered pooch has a hilariously overinflated sense of her helpfulness, and though the adults in the house, who never make an appearance, might mind her disasters, the twins clearly adore her and sleep every night with Nanny Paws between them. Wahman’s watercolor, pencil, and digitally created images effectively capture Nanny Paws’ perpetual motion and the twins’ adoration of her despite the chaos she leaves in her wake. Ally and Mae have brown skin and wear their black hair in two puffballs.
A delightful tale for dog lovers with less-than-perfect pooches. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: May 22, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5039-5436-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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