A delicate original fairy tale that will likely appeal to young readers of imagination.
A young white girl in a snowy, onion-domed fairyland setting escapes from her shadow only to find she is not whole without it.
Hortense hates her shadow. It follows her everywhere, it does everything she does, and it grows “tall and dark / and crooked” when night falls. One day, Hortense escapes from her shadow, slamming the window on it, and her shadow is left behind. Hortense feels happy and free without the hated shadow—until the bandits show up. (These bandits are hidden within the illustrations throughout the book for sharp-eyed readers to discover.) When her shadow saves her, Hortense realizes that instead of being a hated nuisance, her shadow is an indispensable part of her, and so, in good fairy-tale fashion, all ends happily ever after. Natalia O'Hara's playful, dreamlike story is written in a lyrical cadence and relies on the poetry of the words themselves more than the reality they outline for meaning: (“she was as sad as an owl”). Lauren O’Hara (the O’Haras are sisters) contributes her own layer to the story’s fanciful mood with her soft illustrations of muted colors, filled with snowy landscapes, looming trees (for the scary bits), and storybook, folkloric buildings whose interiors show whimsical decorative details.
A delicate original fairy tale that will likely appeal to young readers of imagination. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-44079-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
After one reading, the party is over—pass.
A cuddly, lime-green monster gets ready for a bash.
“Come to Max’s Monster Party. There’s GOO-LICIOUS food to eat! / It’s creepy-crawly, stinky fun—don’t miss the SCARY treat!” A bright-eyed group of smiling monsters, some with rounded front teeth, one with glasses, and another with an eye patch, comes through the door bearing gifts. Presents are opened, the magician entertains, the bouncy castle “sprays out gunk,” and the monsters take part in the “stinky breath contest.” Then it is time to blow out the “earwax candles” on the “eyeball birthday cake.” Once all the festivities draw to a close, not only do the attendees get to sample the titular dragon jelly—a “scrumptious, sizzling treat”—but each monster also gets a goody bag with a small, red, fire-breathing dragon to take home as a pet. Freedman’s rhyming text matches the rollicking party action, while Hendra and Linnet choose a festive, neon pastel palette set against a black background to make the festivities truly pop. Bouncy though the book is, it’s hard to imagine that the overcrowded field of birthday books really needs another. Without a plot, this benign offering, even with the charming monsters, fails to stand out.
After one reading, the party is over—pass. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-6196-3682-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
A metafictive treat.
Never mind a monster at the end, there’s a monster all the way through this book!
Starting on Page 1, the protagonist monster uses direct address to warn readers not to turn any pages. The book’s very title reveals the threat behind this warning, and Shea’s toothy monster—all mouth and head and bluster—seems ready to follow through with it. Disobeying the command provokes metafictive peril as warnings to readers persist, and various small creatures depicted on the page (a bird, a frog, and a wee bunny) flee its chomping jaws. The monster misses both them and disobedient readers, growing increasingly angry. Clever illustration choices make it seem as though the monster has chomped through the pages of the book, and soon its commands devolve into pleading. Why? “It’s because I have all my cakes back here, at the end of the book,” the greedy monster explains. In a fiendish ploy to trick readers, the monster offers to share, saying, “just come a little closer…” and a page turn reveals (yet another) “CHOMP!” Defeated, the monster resigns itself to readers’ progress toward the end of the book, and it chomps up all the cakes, leaving it with the just deserts of a bellyache. Throughout, Shea’s vibrant, silly pictures diminish the scariness of the story’s premise and deliver humorous characterization.
A metafictive treat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-38986-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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