Poor Sam and Dave. Lucky readers.
When Sam and Dave dig a hole, readers get “something spectacular.”
The boys, on the other hand, do not. Their quest to find the spectacular brings them painfully and humorously close to buried jewels as they spade their way into the ground, accompanied by an intrepid canine companion. Readers occupy a superior position as cross-section illustrations reveal those jewels buried just out of the shovels’ reach. Each time they near one, the increasingly grubby boys maddeningly change course. On they dig, tunneling in different directions, and each effort reveals (to readers) yet larger jewels evading them. Exhausted, they fall asleep, but the dog digs after a bone it senses below. In an unexpected turn, the ground gives way to nothingness, and the trio falls through empty space “until they landed in the soft dirt.” At first glance, it seems they’ve ended up where they began: A small tree stands on the recto, and a house with a porch is on the verso, as before. But careful readers will notice that the tree here bears pears, while the tree at the story’s start had apples. Other differing details (a weathervane duck instead of a chicken; a blue flower instead of a red one; a blue cat collar instead of a red) suggest that they’ve unwittingly fallen into another dimension.
Poor Sam and Dave. Lucky readers. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6229-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests.
A lonely prince gains a friend for a quest to find a missing jewel.
Prince Lucas of Wrenly has everything a boy could possibly want—except a friend. His father has forbidden him to play with the village children for reasons of propriety. Adventure-seeking Lucas acquires peasant clothes to masquerade as a commoner and make friends, but he is caught out. His mother, the queen, persuades the king to allow him one friend: Clara, the daughter of her personal dressmaker. When the queen’s prized emerald pendant goes missing, Lucas and Clara set off to find it. They follow the jewel as it changes hands, interviewing each temporary owner. Their adventure cleverly introduces the series’ world and peoples, taking the children to the fairy island of Primlox, the trolls’ home of Burth, the wizard island of Hobsgrove and finally Mermaid’s Cove. By befriending the mermaids, Lucas and Clara finally recover the jewel. In thanks, the king gives Clara a horse of her own so that she may ride with Lucas on their future adventures. The third-person narration is generally unobtrusive, allowing the characters to take center stage. The charming, medieval-flavored illustrations set the fairy-tale scene and take up enough page space that new and reluctant readers won’t be overwhelmed by text.
A gentle adventure that sets the stage for future quests. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9691-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
It’s tough to walk the plank and leave beloved captains behind; this may make the transition a little easier.
An imaginative pirate preschooler has a hard time adjusting to a new captain in kindergarten.
Not only is beloved preschool teacher Cap’n Chu not the captain of the kindergarten ship, but it doesn’t even sail the seas—it’s a spaceship! This is too much for pirate Emma to take, and she falls back to reboarding the preschool ship: “Pirates don’t go to kindergarten!” Despite repeated efforts on the parts of Cap’n Chu, new teacher Cap’n Hayes, and a fellow kindergartener, Emma continues to cling to Cap’n Chu until she gets the reassurance she needs that her former teacher will miss her too but will always be available for a visit. With that, space pirate Emma finally reports to her new ship. Kaban’s digital illustrations go to town with the metaphor, depicting school as a mix of reality and imagination: Emma swims, wooden cutlass in her teeth, back to the preschool room. Emma’s portrayed with a peg leg in one picture, and the kindergarten guinea pig’s fur makes it look like it wears an eye patch. Otherwise, the pirate trope is limited to bandannas and striped shirts. Emma presents white; the other students are diverse; Cap’n Chu presents Asian; and Cap’n Hayes has brown skin and white hair. Unfortunately, awkward renderings of her head and face may remind readers of a monkey’s.
It’s tough to walk the plank and leave beloved captains behind; this may make the transition a little easier. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5420-9275-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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