While less moralizing and more skillful text and art would have made this book even better, its whimsy and wordplay make it...
This well-meaning first book of Doodle-Head celebrates differences.
Lafferty sets a fairy-tale tone from the opening line: “This is the story of Whompi, a Doodle-Head who lived in Doodle-Valley, where everything was as it always had been.” The debut author’s unpolished color illustrations show Whompi dressed as a little boy who seems to have a clump of grass for hair. The border of purple bubbles lends a bouncy, celebratory feel. Circumstances shift in Doodle-Valley when Whompi discovers some “doodlelicious” purple balls. After watching as white songbirds, then brown ants eat the berries and turn purple, Whompi gets hungry and saves purple balls for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When friends come looking for him, they laugh at his purple color—and run away. Dejected, Whompi falls asleep on the balls he calls Bumpulumps, and his friends realize they shouldn’t have teased and abandoned Whompi. Flat statements, such as “Whompi was happy to have his friends back and was not sad anymore,” do little to heighten suspense or raise emotional stakes. Soon, all the boys eat Bumpulumps and feel special as they do “their headstands while being purple from head to toe.” Although they worry what their parents will say, none of the seven fathers (no mothers) is angry. “The parents told the worried little Doodle-Heads that everything would be okay,” though the boys have to promise not to try anything new again without asking their parents first. The parents, who remember eating the purple balls, are happy they can still eat them occasionally. Whompi suggests a new holiday when all can eat Bumpulump cake and play Bumpulump games. The Doodle-Heads “shouted ‘Yeess!’ six times, and that made it official. All was as it had been before, but now it was even better.”
While less moralizing and more skillful text and art would have made this book even better, its whimsy and wordplay make it worth a try.Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-1493583713
Page Count: 36
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
