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FLASHLIGHT NIGHT

Name: FLASHLIGHT NIGHT
Author: Matt Forrest Esenwine
ISBN: 978-1-62979-493-8

by Matt Forrest Esenwine ; illustrated by Fred Koehler ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2017

A rousing read.

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The contrast between darkness and the area illuminated by a flashlight fascinates children, but this title kicks the fun up a notch.

Three kids—a white child with long hair and a baseball cap, another white youngster clutching a teddy bear, and a black boy with a flashlight (the narrator)—are heading for a summer sleepover in the treehouse. Wherever the storyteller focuses the light, the real transforms into the imagined, and the green/gray of night fills with subdued color. Observant eyes will note that even in the first scene, fence posts morph into tree trunks in the glow, and a striped cat becomes a tiger slinking into the “forest.” “FLASHLIGHT,” written once, is the subject of every rhymed couplet that follows: directed under the porch, it “Casts a glow upon a wall / down a dark and ancient hall / as inky shadows rise and fall, / dancing… / to no sound at all.” Hieroglyphs, columns, and an object that is half baseball/half ancient urn fill the space—and are those shadows dogs? Fist-bumping? (Closer examination reveals a humorous twist.) The modest swimming pool inspires a pirate escapade; a rope ladder links to a hot air balloon rescue. The delicious language and ingenious metamorphoses, rendered in pencil and colored digitally, are tied directly to classic books stacked near the sleeping bags.

A rousing read. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-62979-493-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Boyds Mills

Review Posted Online: May 30, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION

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LITTLE JOE CHICKAPIG

by Brian Calhoun ; illustrated by Brian Calhoun & Pat Bradley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 14, 2020

Take strength from the dreamers before you and follow your dreams. Or maybe just roll the dice.

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Is it a book about aspirations or the backstory for the board game?

Chickapig is defined as “an animal hybrid that is half-chicken and half-pig” and is depicted in yellow, two-legged chick shape with pink pig snout and ears. Young Joe Chickapig lives on a farm that was his grandfather’s dream, but it’s getting Joe down. He dreams of adventure but needs the “courage to follow his heart. / But how could he do it? How could he start?” In a bedtime story, Joe’s mother shares the influential characters that helped Joe’s sailor grandfather “follow his heart against the tide.” It seems that “Grandpa had heard a story told / Of a great big bear who broke the mold. / The bear was tired of striking fear”—so he became a forest doctor and a friend to all. And the bear’s inspiration? “A mouse who went to space.” The mouse, in turn, found hope in a “fierce young dragon” who joined a rock band. And coming full circle, the dragon found courage from a Chickapig warrior who “tired of shields and swords to wield” and established a farm. Chickapig game fans will appreciate this fanciful rhyming tale illustrated in attention-grabbing colors, but readers coming to it cold will note a distinct absence of plot. Mouse and dragon present female; all others are male.

Take strength from the dreamers before you and follow your dreams. Or maybe just roll the dice. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-7944-4452-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Printers Row

Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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THE POLAR BEAR WISH

by Lori Evert ; illustrated by Per Breiehagen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

For fans of Evert and Breiehagen’s Wish Book series.

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Anja and her dog, Birki, do their best to get to a Christmas party in a frozen Nordic landscape.

Anja wishes she had a dog sled to harness Birki to in order to get to the party. The next morning, her cousin Erik appears with his dog sled and an offer to take her there. Lost in a blizzard, they encounter talking wolves who take them to a tent where they can spend the night. A baby polar bear named Tiny appears, separated from his mother. The following day takes them all on an adventure through glaciers and fjords, past an ice castle, and finally to Tiny’s mother and to the party. This digitally produced book is illustrated with photographs that capture the Nordic setting. Unfortunately, the overall effect is weirdly flat, with elements awkwardly set together in images that lack depth. A polar bear perches awkwardly on top of oddly scaled pack ice; Anja and Erik spend a night in the ice castle in niches chiseled into the wall, but they seem oddly disconnected from it. The book has an old-fashioned, European feel; the white, blond children’s red caps and traditional clothing stand out against the dim, bluish winter light. But the wooden, overlong text does little to cultivate the magical fantasy feeling that it’s aiming for.

For fans of Evert and Breiehagen’s Wish Book series. (Picture book. 5-7)