A fun, whimsically illustrated book about space exploration that’s definitely worth adding to classroom and school libraries.
A young astronaut and her toy friends go on a dream-time adventure in this children’s tale by debut author Burney with illustrations by De La Roche and Williams Sticka.
Rikki is a pale-skinned girl with pigtails who wears pink and carries a toy rocket ship—a wonderful story setup that shows young readers that there’s no contradiction between liking things that are typically girl-assigned and liking science. The youngster, like most good child-scientists, is always asking questions about why the world is the way it is. At night, Rikki and her mother, who’s darker-skinned with curly hair, pretend to fly her rocket to outer space. Mommy brings out Rikki’s toys, the Rocket Twins, to liven up the game. When it’s time for sleep, the girl and the twins travel through the solar system, voyaging from the sun all the way to dwarf planets Pluto and Eris. Each spread has a similar format: the twins are shown doing something silly (such as baking pizza on the moon, roller-skating on Saturn’s bumpy rings, or flying a kite on freezing, windy Neptune), while the text offers general information about the planet, as well as a sidebar with a question from Rikki. There are also text boxes with facts from the Rocket Twins and great illustrations that highlight where each planet is in the planetary order. Parents who miss Pluto being included in books on the solar system will rejoice to see that its dwarf planet categorization doesn’t keep it out of this book. There are occasional moments of rhyme (“Every time she looks up at the sky, her mind is filled with questions of why?”) that stand out amid the largely non-rhyming text. Overall, budding astronomers and astronauts will find the vocabulary to be approachable, and the book’s presentation of a mixed-race family is overwhelmingly positive.
A fun, whimsically illustrated book about space exploration that’s definitely worth adding to classroom and school libraries.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9982317-0-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Change3 Enterprises
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
