A confusing jumble of images and symbols, for all that it may inspire deep thoughts.
A small boy looking for a home on his birthday finds it in an unexpected place.
In a hand-lettered and occasionally rhyming ramble, Sissay has solitary young Alem—portrayed in Stobbs’ lambent paintings as a round-headed, brown-skinned child symbolically (as it turns out) carrying a stack of small buildings on his back—asking a bear, a fox, and other animals where he should go to find a home and getting only a chorus of “I don’t know” and the titular warning in reply. The story then takes an even sharper turn to the allegorical as a huge but benign dragon arrives to invite Alem to tea, inform him that his name means “The World” (as it does, in Arabic), then point him toward a welcoming town that, apparently, the boy had left in the first scene and is named, according to the dragon, “I Don’t Know.” “Home was always inside him,” is what Alem ultimately concludes. The boy’s backpack, a lighthouse visible in several backgrounds, and other ambiguously meaningful details make the illustrations more inscrutable than clarifying, and worthy as that last insight is, the way he reaches it will likely leave readers feeling as if they’ve missed a few steps. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A confusing jumble of images and symbols, for all that it may inspire deep thoughts. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-83885-398-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Canongate
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
Inspiration, shrink wrapped.
From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.
Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.
Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
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