With its flaws more likely to bother adults than children, this tale delivers an enjoyable adventure for reading aloud.
In this children’s series opener, a girl embarks on an expedition with her cat and a (mostly) intrepid band of stuffed-animal friends.
Madison is a freckle-faced, daring young girl who lives in Squirrel Hill—not the Pittsburgh neighborhood but a bucolic rural area with a farmhouse bordered by Briar Woo, a small forest with a stream running through it. (The forest’s curious name is never explained, perhaps deriving from a child’s pronunciation of Briar Woods.) Madison’s companions include a cat named Kitty, who claims not to be curious but is, and two live stuffed animals who speak. Ellie the elephant, fat and fearful, makes up enjoyable songs; Sergeant Monk-Monk is well-organized and resembles Madison’s Uncle Stanley, a soldier. Uncle Stanley bought Monk-Monk in North Africa—which, Madison is sure, lies on the other side of Briar Woo and is the object of today’s trek. The foursome encounters some problems, especially in crossing the creek that runs through the woods; Ellie, in particular, has some scary moments but prevails, and the companions befriend a beaver. Madison is dismayed to discover that after all their exploring, they will arrive where they started, but she praises her friends for doing well. North Africa can wait for another day. Clark (Just an Ordinary Elephant and the Bald Cardinal, 2018, etc.) owes an obvious debt to A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books, with the woods, a young child protagonist, and a cast of plush-toy–derived characters. Like Pooh, Ellie creates whimsical ditties; like Eeyore, he's pessimistic: “We do not know how far it is…and my short, fat legs cannot move very fast.” Clark does add a North American flavor to the story (aimed at ages 4 to 7) with the farmhouse setting, gopher and beaver characters, and general air of can-do resolve. It’s odd, though, that the dialogue sometimes sounds British: “Bosh,” “Terribly sorry,” and “Listen, old chap,” for example. Driver’s (Just an Ordinary Elephant and the Bald Cardinal, 2018) skillfully drawn, attractive illustrations deftly capture personalities, providing rich details that help tell the story.
With its flaws more likely to bother adults than children, this tale delivers an enjoyable adventure for reading aloud.Pub Date: May 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-71724-569-4
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Ozymandias Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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