A straightforward, involving picture book that encourages problem-solving.
Cecelia uses her art skills to make her dream of owning a model airplane come true.
Brown-skinned, curly-haired Cecelia dreams of owning a Hercules model airplane just like the one her “Mommy flies on super important missions.” Her piggy bank only contains a fraction of the toy’s $40 price tag, so Cecelia makes a plan. Her classmate Sammi Sylvester once sold cupcakes to raise money, so she decides to sell art, complete with a sales jingle. “Artwork for sale from me to you / Helps my special dream come true.” With the help of her dad, Cecelia passes out flyers to all of her neighbors and sets up shop. She’s quite anxious to begin with, but her friends buy numerous pieces. She even receives a generous offer from Mr. Grizzle, a former pilot, for an extra-special drawing she did with her mom. Though she’s tempted, Cecelia refuses to part with it. Mr. Grizzle understands and finds a different way to make Cecelia’s treasured dream of a Hercules model a reality. This follow-up to Anne’s 2024 title, Cecelia Says No: When Friendship and Boundaries Collide, demonstrates fiscal problem-solving through a kid-friendly situation. This installment in the series demonstrates creativity and perseverance and even calls back to an earlier book in which Cecelia learned all about boundaries. Wathsala’s illustrations are reminiscent of Cecelia’s own drawings in their colorful and childlike style; they include a labeled diagram of a plane at the end.
A straightforward, involving picture book that encourages problem-solving.Pub Date: April 15, 2025
ISBN: 9798990649842
Page Count: 36
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.
Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated...
The master of the manic patterned tale offers a newly buffed version of his first published book, with appropriately gloppy new illustrations.
Like the previous four iterations (orig. 1979; revised 2004, 2006, 2009), the plot remains intact through minor changes in wording: Each time young Jule Ann ventures outside in clean clothes, a nefarious mud puddle leaps out of a tree or off the roof to get her “completely all over muddy” and necessitate a vigorous parental scrubbing. Petricic gives the amorphous mud monster a particularly tarry look and texture in his scribbly, high-energy cartoon scenes. It's a formidable opponent, but the two bars of smelly soap that the resourceful child at last chucks at her attacker splatter it over the page and send it sputtering into permanent retreat.
Score one for cleanliness. Like (almost) all Munsch, funny as it stands but even better read aloud, with lots of exaggerated sound effects. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55451-427-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
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