A cute story that doesn’t reach the high places it could.
An ordinary mouse, dreaming of a less ordinary life, sets off on a journey that tests her in this new take on the story told by John Steptoe in The Story of Jumping Mouse (1984).
When a little female mouse suggests to the other mice that they set off to find the High Places of legend, she realizes the others don’t want a different life, and so she chooses to go alone. Soon, she comes to a fast-moving river where she meets Grandfather Frog. Moved by “the eagerness of [her] heart,” Grandfather Frog gifts her his ability to leap great distances and calls her Jumping Mouse. As she continues her journey, Jumping Mouse encounters Brother Buffalo and Sister Wolf, both of whom she finds distressed and crying. Displaying compassion, she gives the one her vision and the other her sense of smell, jeopardizing her own quest. Though the simple story lacks high dramatic conflict, the illustrations—hand-built, clay-sculpted characters photographed in real-life natural settings—provide visual interest and deserve praise. Younger readers will mostly enjoy the animal characters while older ones will likely engage with themes of friendship, self-sacrifice, and the importance of following one’s dreams. Some readers may find it troubling that misinformed beliefs in a singular, pan-Indian culture are reinforced by the generic subtitle as well as by the absence of the author/illustrator’s specific tribal affiliation/descent or even any note on the story’s origin.
A cute story that doesn’t reach the high places it could. (author’s note, note on art) (Picture book/folktale. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62414-817-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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