written and illustrated by Laura Lafferty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 19, 2014
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
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by Kobi Yamada ; illustrated by Gabriella Barouch ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2019
More gift book than storybook, this is a meaningful addition to nursery bookshelves
A young child explores the unlimited potential inherent in all humans.
“Have you ever wondered why you are here?” asks the second-person narration. There is no one like you. Maybe you’re here to make a difference with your uniqueness; maybe you will speak for those who can’t or use your gifts to shine a light into the darkness. The no-frills, unrhymed narrative encourages readers to follow their hearts and tap into their limitless potential to be anything and do anything. The precisely inked and colored artwork plays with perspective from the first double-page spread, in which the child contemplates a mountain (or maybe an iceberg) in their hands. Later, they stand on a ladder to place white spots on tall, red mushrooms. The oversized flora and fauna seem to symbolize the presumptively insurmountable, reinforcing the book’s message that anything is possible. This quiet read, with its sophisticated central question, encourages children to reach for their untapped potential while reminding them it won’t be easy—they will make messes and mistakes—but the magic within can help overcome falls and failures. It’s unlikely that members of the intended audience have begun to wonder about their life’s purpose, but this life-affirming mood piece has honorable intentions. The child, accompanied by an adorable piglet and sporting overalls and a bird-beaked cap made of leaves, presents white.
More gift book than storybook, this is a meaningful addition to nursery bookshelves . (Picture book. 2-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-946873-75-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
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by Carson Ellis ; illustrated by Carson Ellis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 2015
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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