A slim but immersive fantasy about a weather-driven intergenerational rivalry.
A grouchy weatherman and a child inventor square off in Taibah’s debut middle-grade fantasy novel.
Forecaster Tart Morning lives in the Cerulean Isles, located in the fantastical “sideways hemisphere of the world,” where he insists on predicting the weather the old-fashioned way. Along with his pet crow, Kra, the curmudgeonly Tart checks the atmospheric pressure with his finicky barometer and reads the humidity using imprecise moisture balls. He takes pride in his work, as his daily readings are necessary to ensure the success of the local silkweed crop, which is used in the production of airships. One day, he is abruptly informed that his services are no longer required. It seems that a 10-year-old inventor named Cypress Korkul has created a device called “the weathernose.” As Tart’s erstwhile boss explains, the weathernose is “a gadget that does everything you spend a whole day doing in just one minute. What’s more, the weathernose gives us the weather forecasts of two months and the highlights of a year.” To add insult to injury, it begins to rain right after Tart hears this news—a shower he did not predict. Now the middle-aged Tart—who has no close friends or family and no hobbies other than forecasting—is left without purpose or direction. He decides to confront Cypress, who has been named acting chief of the weather department in the nearby city of Linett, but the meeting doesn’t go well for him. His ego bruised, Tart decides he has no choice but to break into the girl’s workshop and destroy the weathernose once and for all. As his quest leads him into ever deeper states of humiliation, Tart begins to question all of the decisions that have led him to this lonely life. As he does, he begins to realize that the young inventor who destroyed his livelihood might feel just as alone as he does.
The author’s prose is cozy and whimsical: When Tart enters Cypress’ Wonka-esque workshop, he observes, “The shed was strewn with Cypress’s many unfinished projects, things with toggles, arms and spinning domes. Some of them came alive when he passed by—there must have been motion sensors buried deep inside their machinery. Things moved and twitched here and seemed to speak and chitter to one another.” The short book reads like a children’s novel from an earlier era—the stakes are low, the fantastical elements are subtle, and the narrative voice is imbued with a knowing wryness. Young readers will be enchanted by the imagination at work even if they don’t immediately relate to the protagonist’s technology-driven unemployment. Tart is endearingly misanthropic, and his interactions with the precocious Cypress are great fun. The supporting characters—including Sol, an idiosyncratic bookshop owner and his “book-napped” granddaughter, Sari—help to fill out the world. In its stylized manner, the novel raises questions about the ways people choose to occupy themselves and how an intense fixation on one aspect of life can leave other areas neglected. The reader will finish Taibah’s tale hoping to be welcomed back to the Cerulean Isles in future books.
A slim but immersive fantasy about a weather-driven intergenerational rivalry.Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2019
ISBN: 9781733362009
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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 hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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