Despite a sudden tonal shift at the halfway mark, this heartfelt tale offers thoughtful, conversation-promoting guidance for...
In this debut picture book, a couple’s adoption of a rescue dog brings comfort after the death of a family member.
Reflecting Wynkoop’s own healing process after her daughter’s death as well as her professional background as a bereavement counselor, art therapist, and hospital care coordinator, this worthwhile tale is sensitively constructed for children (and adults) who may be dealing with loss. The work’s story component, with the author as the third-person central character, Marian, is simply told in short sentences that are hand-lettered in black pencil on white pages with colorful watercolor accents and unpolished but charming drawings of dogs. Wynkoop then speaks directly to readers on each page, asking questions related to a theme suggested by the tale. When Marian daydreams, for instance, the author asks readers what they daydream about. Boxed text at the bottom of each page further expands the theme. Children may need reassurance, however, when they learn that it was Marian’s adult daughter (co-author DeVasto) who died. When little dog Clay comes into Marian’s life, the story’s abrupt shift in focus to pet rescue, fostering, and adoption could be another book entirely, if not for the gentle, reflective questions for kids that continue on each page.
Despite a sudden tonal shift at the halfway mark, this heartfelt tale offers thoughtful, conversation-promoting guidance for children coping with loss.Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-941876-00-8
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Podengo Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
With the same delightfully irreverent spirit that he brought to his retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1987), Marshall enlivens another favorite. Although completely retold with his usual pungent wit and contemporary touches ("I don't mind if I do," says Goldilocks, as she tries out porridge, chair, and bed), Marshall retains the stories well-loved pattern, including Goldilocks escaping through the window (whereupon Baby Bear inquires, "Who was that little girl?"). The illustrations are fraught with delicious humor and detail: books that are stacked everywhere around the rather cluttered house, including some used in lieu of a missing leg for Papa Bear's chair; comically exaggerated beds—much too high at the head and the foot; and Baby Bear's wonderfully messy room, which certainly brings the story into the 20th century. Like its predecessor, perfect for several uses, from picture-book hour to beginning reading.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1988
ISBN: 0140563660
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1988
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