A humorous take on a long-standing tactic for combating insomnia.
A wayward sheep changes how a boy falls asleep every night.
Everyone has their own personal flock of sheep to count in order to fall asleep. Mike’s sheep dutifully do their job—until one night, one member of the flock—Four—refuses to take her turn jumping over the imaginary fence. “I’m sick and tired of always doing the same thing.” As the hours pass and poor Mike remains wide awake, the other sheep continue to coax Four to “Jump! Jump! Jump!” Four stubbornly responds, “No! No! No!” Finally, a postman arrives on a bicycle and delivers a letter addressed to Four with an urgent plea from Mike. This prompts the mutinous sheep to “resolutely walk towards the fence.” With “a glorious leap,” she jumps “so high and far” that she eventually disappears. Mike finally drifts off and then never needs to count sheep again. “He’s been sleeping just fine.” How is Mike able to adjust after Four’s deliberate exodus? The final spread, depicting a little sheep cuddled up next to him in bed, offers a clue. Cartoon art outlined in black depicts green-dominated pasture scenes against white space offset by blue and dark gray tones for Mike’s sleepless setting, enhancing the amusing premise of this offbeat but heartening narrative, translated from Spanish. Mike has skin the nighttime blue of the page; the postman has skin the white of the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A humorous take on a long-standing tactic for combating insomnia. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9788419253262
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NubeOcho
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.
Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.
The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.
A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
© 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
