Fun, cute illustrations bring this simple story to life.
Wicks (Pepe and Seymour’s Adventure, 2009) delivers a charming children’s book paired with delightful illustrations by Essa, structured around the adventures of a princess and her new friend, a rare purple and white “drageena.”
Told in nine small episodes, these quick, often silly adventures showcase Princess Awemina, whose loneliness prompts Prince Mineko to seek out a drageena—a sort of half-dog, half-dragon with tiny wings and a detachable nose—to be her friend and companion while he’s off attending to his princely duties. Though this may seem like a typical fantasy/adventure setup, once the drageena comes into the story, she takes over, and the princess and the drageena’s adventures charmingly become the book’s focus. Drageenas find adventure irresistible, no matter how big or small the escapade may be. The two friends search for cookies, shoes, and blockleberries, the grape-looking fruit drageenas prefer. The drageena decides on a name for herself, hunts for another drageena’s lost nose, participates in a blockleberry pie-eating contest and looks for a home. The divergent, fast-paced adventures allow readers to watch Awemina and the drageena’s friendship blossom. The adventures aren’t big, broad or sweeping; they’re similar to the day-to-day activities of ordinary people, such as having a picnic and trying on shoes. It’s somewhat unusual to find a relatable story about royalty and imaginary creatures, so young readers will appreciate the ability to tag along. Essa’s simple, colorful illustrations enjoyably mix a hand-drawn aesthetic with digital backgrounds, and young readers will appreciate the characters’ expressiveness.
Fun, cute illustrations bring this simple story to life.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-1468035865
Page Count: 56
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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