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
An engaging mix of gentle behavior modeling and inventive story ideas that may well provide just the push needed to get some...
With a little help from his audience, a young storyteller gets over a solid case of writer’s block in this engaging debut.
Despite the (sometimes creatively spelled) examples produced by all his classmates and the teacher’s assertion that “Stories are everywhere!” Ralph can’t get past putting his name at the top of his paper. One day, lying under the desk in despair, he remembers finding an inchworm in the park. That’s all he has, though, until his classmates’ questions—“Did it feel squishy?” “Did your mom let you keep it?” “Did you name it?”—open the floodgates for a rousing yarn featuring an interloping toddler, a broad comic turn and a dramatic rescue. Hanlon illustrates the episode with childlike scenes done in transparent colors, featuring friendly-looking children with big smiles and widely spaced button eyes. The narrative text is printed in standard type, but the children’s dialogue is rendered in hand-lettered printing within speech balloons. The episode is enhanced with a page of elementary writing tips and the tantalizing titles of his many subsequent stories (“When I Ate Too Much Spaghetti,” “The Scariest Hamster,” “When the Librarian Yelled Really Loud at Me,” etc.) on the back endpapers.
An engaging mix of gentle behavior modeling and inventive story ideas that may well provide just the push needed to get some budding young writers off and running. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0761461807
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
