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
The art gives this southerly outing a distinctive look, and the interplay between the two tourists may strike some readers...
Strong graphic illustrations give this quick visit to the Antarctic plenty of appeal, though readers may want to strangle one of the visitors.
Loosely based on the author’s actual voyage, the tour features both large waves and still waters, glimpses of a killer whale and penguins of various identified sorts, and a dip in waters warmed by a half-sunken volcano. It's all in the company of a querulous mouse whose initial “Are we there yet?” and eight-times-repeated “Can we go home now?” inevitably turns to “Can we go back there soon?” by the end. The mouse queries a human traveler who responds to his diminutive companion’s importunate comments with uncommon patience. Using a pale palette and varying the sizes of his sequential panels, Viva (Along a Long Road, one of the New York Times 10 Best Illustrated for 2011) shapes his figures simply with minimal detailing. He effectively creates both visual rhythm and a sense of size for landscapes and spaces with looping white masses of shoreline ice that separate flat monochrome skies from, usually, darker waters.
The art gives this southerly outing a distinctive look, and the interplay between the two tourists may strike some readers as comical. (Graphic easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-935179-19-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: TOON/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another outing positively radiant with child appeal, featuring a pair of close siblings with complementary personalities.
It’s bedtime for the mouseling brother and sister—but not before plenty of horsing around and a deliciously scary expedition into the backyard.
As little Penny quietly tries to wash up and pretend-read a story (“One day the princess was sent to her room for being bratty. But she had a secret door…”), her restless big brother interrupts obnoxiously with warnings about the Boogey Mouse, loud belches and other distractions. When Benny realizes that he’s left his prized pirate hat in the backyard, though, Penny braves the Boogey Mouse to follow him out of the window and prod him into reclaiming it from the spooky, dark playhouse. She also “reads” him to sleep after the two race, giggling at their fright, back indoors. Framed in sequential panels that occasionally expand to full-page or double-spread scenes, the art features a pair of big-eared, bright-eyed mites (plus the occasional fictive dinosaur) in cozy domestic settings atmospherically illuminated by the glow of lamps, Benny’s flashlight and the moon. As in this popular series’ earlier episodes, dialogue in unobtrusive balloons furnishes the only text, but the action is easy to follow, and Hayes provides plenty of finely drawn visual cues to the characters’ feelings.
Another outing positively radiant with child appeal, featuring a pair of close siblings with complementary personalities. (Graphic early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-935179-20-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: TOON/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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