A unique take on the Romeo and Juliet theme with appealing cartoon mosquitos, but its text will likely confuse young readers...
Screenwriter Lannini (Letters to My Angels, Wikki and Blue, 2014) tackles a timeless tale of star-crossed lovers as a mosquito who can turn into a human tries to make peace between her human lover and mosquito family in this screenplaylike children’s picture-book debut.
Mosquito general Tazzi and his wife, Heeleen—the village’s greatest warrior—are delighted to welcome their daughter, Skeeter, into the world. But after a storm, they’re shocked to find that their child has been replaced by a human baby. They soon discover that Skeeter changes into a human girl during hot, dry weather. As an adult, she’s still fascinated by the human side of her nature, and during a period of exploring life as a human, she falls in love with a man named Martin. Later, as a mosquito, she bites her human rival for Martin’s affections, and she tries to convince her parents that she’s as much a human as she is one of their kind. At first, Martin seems to take her condition in stride, but then he decides that he can’t marry a part-time human, leaving Skeeter heartbroken. However, when a group of humans threatens Skeeter’s village, Martin comes through to help save them. The premise of this book is more about identity politics than romance: Skeeter’s desire to become permanently human is certainly driven by her love, but her quest to understand both sides of her nature—and make peace between humans and mosquitos—is also a strong theme. The book’s format leaves much to be desired, though, as it’s more like a storyboard for an animated feature than a simple picture book. The illustrations, with their stylized mosquitos and fun shrinking and growing effects, stand on their own, but the text seems like a synopsis with dialogue added: “In DR. GEEZE’s lab. SKEETER: DR. GEEZE, I want to tell you a secret…I think I’m in love. GEEZE: In love? With whom?” The text is also oddly formatted around the illustrations, sometimes in two or three columns, in order to fit on the pages.
A unique take on the Romeo and Juliet theme with appealing cartoon mosquitos, but its text will likely confuse young readers who are unfamiliar with storyboards and screenplays.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5049-5347-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2016
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
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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