A calm, beautifully illustrated picture book that lacks a strong narrative arc.
An alien girl finds an unexpected new friend while playing with her sister in Lamar and Liana Golden’s picture book.
On a faraway, Earth-like planet named Venesha live two young sisters: Rika, the elder, and Jari, roughly preschool-age (the girls are fair-skinned and appear human). The two love to climb trees and play hide-and-seek together in the planet’s northern forest region. One day, instead of finding her hiding sister, Rika stumbles across a kitten concealed inside of a hollow log. The kitten immediately takes to her, and the two go off in search of Jari: “Rika called out to her sister. ‘Jari, come out! Look what I found!’ Jari appeared from behind a tree. ‘Poor thing!’ she said. ‘Where is her mommy?’ ” Rika doesn’t know, so the two sisters wait for a solution to appear. This picture book is cute and quiet, best for readers who prefer a calmer story. While it establishes a central conflict, it fails to deliver a satisfying resolution that ties the narrative together as a whole, and it isn’t clear why exactly the story is set on an Earth-like planet instead of Earth itself. Guarino’s illustrations depict scenery awash in twilight blues and purples that reflect the dissociation of feeling lost and provide contrast to the characters’ warmer tones.
A calm, beautifully illustrated picture book that lacks a strong narrative arc.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9781960976093
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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BOOK REVIEW
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle...
Making things is difficult work. Readers will recognize the stages of this young heroine’s experience as she struggles to realize her vision.
First comes anticipation. The artist/engineer is spotted jauntily pulling a wagonload of junkyard treasures. Accompanied by her trusty canine companion, she begins drawing plans and building an assemblage. The narration has a breezy tone: “[S]he makes things all the time. Easy-peasy!” The colorful caricatures and creations contrast with the digital black outlines on a white background that depict an urban neighborhood. Intermittent blue-gray panels break up the white expanses on selected pages showing sequential actions. When the first piece doesn’t turn out as desired, the protagonist tries again, hoping to achieve magnificence. A model of persistence, she tries many adjustments; the vocabulary alone offers constructive behaviors: she “tinkers,” “wrenches,” “fiddles,” “examines,” “stares” and “tweaks.” Such hard work, however, combines with disappointing results, eventually leading to frustration, anger and injury. Explosive emotions are followed by defeat, portrayed with a small font and scaled-down figures. When the dog, whose expressions have humorously mirrored his owner’s through each phase, retrieves his leash, the resulting stroll serves them well. A fresh perspective brings renewed enthusiasm and—spoiler alert—a most magnificent scooter sidecar for a loyal assistant.
Spires’ understanding of the fragility and power of the artistic impulse mixes with expert pacing and subtle characterization for maximum delight. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-55453-704-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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