An overall unremarkable entry in the growing number of picture books championing girl power.
A tale about the transformative power of imagination and self-confidence.
Liesel loves visiting Grandma Rose because adventure is never more than the clutch of her grandmother’s old ladle away. Today, the ladle and Liesel’s imagination take her to an island that’s simultaneously inhabited by pirates, terrorized by a dragon, and threatened by an active volcano. She’s determined to save the day, and indeed she does, at least temporarily: She plugs the active volcano with a gigantic coconut, preventing it from erupting. However, the obstacles in her path are disappointingly one-dimensional, as the pirate captain and dragon who question what a “wee girl” like Liesel is capable of both back down quickly once she asserts that “THERE’S NOTHING WEE ABOUT ME!” The text’s repetition of the word “wee” feels out of place within the contemporary setting and in the face of Liesel’s confidence. Similarly, Liesel’s choice of a ladle, of all things, could imply either a reinforcement or a reclaiming of spaces and tools stereotypically associated with women. Grandma Rose’s somewhat dismissive attitude of Liesel’s confidence suggests that her choice of a ladle is less than radical. While the text often tells rather than shows, the soft, sketchy illustrations actively support the text by providing additional visual information. The three human characters all have pale skin and light-colored hair while the island residents appear as anthropomorphic lions, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and turtles.
An overall unremarkable entry in the growing number of picture books championing girl power. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62414-692-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As Captain Awesome would say, this kid is “MI-TEE!” (Fiction. 5-8)
The town of Sunnyview got a little bit safer when 8-year-old Eugene McGillicudy moved in.
Just like his comic-book mentor, Super Dude, Eugene, aka Captain Awesome, is on a one-man mission is to save the world from supervillains, like the nefarious “Queen Stinkypants from Planet Baby.” Just as Eugene suspected, plenty of new supervillains await him at Sunnyview Elementary. Are Meredith Mooney and the mind-reading Ms. Beasley secretly working together to try and force Eugene to reveal his secret identity? Will Principal Brick Foot succeed in throwing Captain Awesome into the “Dungeon of Detention?” Fortunately, Eugene isn’t forced to go it alone. Charlie Thomas Jones, fellow comic-book lover and Super Dude fan, stands ready and willing to help. When the class hamster goes missing, Captain Awesome must don his cape and, with the help of his new best friend, ride to the rescue. Kirby’s funny and engaging third-person narration and O’Connor’s hilarious illustrations make the book easily accessible and enormously appealing, particularly to readers who have recently graduated to chapter books. But it is the quirky, mischievous Eugene that really makes this book special. His energy and humor are contagious, and his dogged commitment to his superhero alter ego is enough to make anyone a believer.
As Captain Awesome would say, this kid is “MI-TEE!” (Fiction. 5-8)Pub Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4090-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
A delicious triumph over fear of night creatures.
Pippa conquers a fear of the creatures that emerge from her storybooks at night.
Pippa’s “wonderfully wild imagination” can sometimes run “a little TOO wild.” During the day, she wears her “armor” and is a force to be reckoned with. But in bed at night, Pippa worries about “villains and monsters and beasts.” Sharp-toothed and -taloned shadows, dragons, and pirates emerge from her storybooks like genies from a bottle, just to scare her. Pippa flees to her parents’ room only to be brought back time and again. Finally, Pippa decides that she “needs a plan” to “get rid of them once and for all.” She decides to slip a written invitation into every book, and that night, they all come out. She tries subduing them with a lasso, an eye patch, and a sombrero, but she is defeated. Next, she tries “sashes and sequins and bows,” throwing the fashion pieces on the monsters, who…“begin to pose and primp and preen.” After that success, their fashion show becomes a nightly ritual. Clever Pippa’s transformation from scared victim of her own imagination to leader of the monster pack feels fairly sudden, but it’s satisfying nonetheless. The cartoony illustrations effectively use dynamic strokes, shadow, and light to capture action on the page and the feeling of Pippa's fears taking over her real space. Pippa and her parents are brown-skinned with curls of various textures.
A delicious triumph over fear of night creatures. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-9300-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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