by Nina Crews & photographed by Nina Crews ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2006
Using a mix of manipulated photography and line drawing, Crews places a lad with a wooden toy companion on a painted staircase next to a small, enticing hole. Jack and little Guy have many play adventures on the steps, but the scariest of all comes when Jack drops Guy through the hole into the darkness beneath. What could be down there? Dragons? Wild horses? Maybe toys? That last guess turns out to be a good one. Having unsuccessfully tried to enlist some parental help, Jack brings out his toy crane and recovers not only Guy, but a toy soldier, a brass button and several other items as well. Alternating views of Jack on the white, brightly lit steps above with Guy suspended in near darkness below, Crews expertly captures the mini-episode’s drama, as well as the inexhaustible possibilities of stairs as playscapes. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-8050-7728-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
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by Lori Evert ; illustrated by Per Breiehagen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018
For fans of Evert and Breiehagen’s Wish Book series.
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)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-6566-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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by Shannon Hale & Dean Hale ; illustrated by LeUyen Pham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 2015
A chuckle-inducing, entirely worthy stand-alone follow-up to the terrific The Princess in Black (2014).
Princess Magnolia’s perfect birthday party’s threatened by constant monster alarms, summoning her secret identity again and again.
Prim, proper Princess Magnolia is all decked out in her pink finery, awaiting the arrival of a dozen ethnically diverse fellow-princess party guests for her birthday when her monster-alarm ring goes off. She changes attire and personas, becoming the heroic Princess in Black. Working swiftly, she saves a goat from a hungry monster and gets back to her palace in time to welcome her guests. But just when she thinks she’s in the clear and ready to open her presents, off goes her monster-alarm ring again! This pattern—Magnolia is just about to open presents when her alarm goes off, she comes up with a distraction for the princesses, defeats a monster, and returns just in time—continues through the book. It’s enhanced by visual gags, such as Magnolia’s increasingly flustered appearance, and hilarious depictions of the various ways monsters try to eat goats, from between giant pieces of bread to in a giant ice cream cone. A side character, the fittingly named Princess Sneezewort, frequently comes close to discovering Magnolia’s secret. In the end, Magnolia can’t take the constant interruptions anymore, yelling at a monster that it’s her birthday—the monster, abashed, ends up helping her in one last distraction for the other princesses.
A chuckle-inducing, entirely worthy stand-alone follow-up to the terrific The Princess in Black (2014). (Fantasy. 5-7)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6511-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
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