Superpowers may fail, but true friends are always there in need.
An inept wolf discovers there’s more to being a superhero than sporting a “super-mind-boggling” costume.
As concocted by jolly, pink-furred seamstress Miss Yeti, it is a nifty costume—a yellow unitard with bat wings and a red cape—and the Wolf comes up with a name to match: “Super-Extra-Fabuwolf.” The saving-the-day part turns out to be not so easy, though, as the Wolf’s intrusive efforts to “rescue” Wolfette and his friend Joshua only leave her annoyed and him with broken binoculars. Discouraged (“It was a complete debacle!”), he sheds his costume, falls asleep in a boat—and needs to be rescued himself by Wolfette when the boat nearly carries him over a waterfall. “I wanted to be your superhero,” the Wolf shamefacedly confesses. Wolfette: “You already are my hero. I love you just the way you are, with all your faults and all your qualities!” The narrative probably reads better in the original French, but Thuillier’s long-nosed, rubber-limbed cartoon wolf has a dopey look that’s comical in any language. Would-be superheroes will find more satisfying action, though, in Brian Pinkney’s The Adventures of Sparrowboy (1997).
Superpowers may fail, but true friends are always there in need. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-2-7338-4323-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Auzou Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
While not exactly novel, it’s well-executed and very funny.
The Princess in Black’s cutest adventure yet—no, really, the monsters are deceptively cute.
While Princess Magnolia and unicorn Frimplepants are on their way to a much anticipated brunch with Princess Sneezewort, Magnolia’s monster alarm goes off, forcing an emergency costume change on her and Frimplepants to become the Princess in Black and her faithful steed, Blacky. They rush to rescue goat boy Duff, hoping to save the day in time for doughnuts. However, when they arrive, instead of monsters they see a field full of adorable bunnies. Pham’s illustrations give the bunnies wide-eyed innocence and little puffballs on the tips of their ears. Duff tries to explain that they’re menaces from Monster Land that eat everything (all the grass, a tree, a goat’s horn…), but the Princess has trouble imagining that monsters might come in such a cute package. By the time she does, there are too many to fight! Humor comes from the juxtaposed danger and adorableness. Just when the bunnies decide to eat the Princess, Blacky—who, as Frimplepants, is fluent in Cuteness—communicates that she’s not food and persuades the bunnies to return to Monster Land. While Princess Magnolia and Frimplepants are too late for brunch, Princess Sneezewort gets the consolation prize of lunch with the Princess in Black and Blacky.
While not exactly novel, it’s well-executed and very funny. (Fantasy. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6513-5
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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