Dishes up a delicious duo, with a theme of reconciliation as the secret sauce.
School lunch turns fraught when feuding foods fight.
In this relentlessly puntastic outing, a rare kitchen disaster turns ordinary food into intrepid caped comestibles eager to protect the students of Baker Elementary from playground accidents and other mishaps. But even though Super Pizza and Kid Kale play equal roles in averting several near disasters, it’s the cheesy champion who gets all the love (“You’re the hero we knead!”)—and makes a cutting remark about how the surly side dish is “just…garnish.” The ensuing argument (“You want a pizza me?”) escalates into a full-scale riot that leaves the school spattered with garbage. Seeing a student’s tears brings the maddened menu items back to their senses, though, and once the “crustfallen” pizza has expressed remorse, the vengeful veggie is quick to forgive and even to lead the cleanup effort. Though it stretches logic to see the students and staff suddenly cheering the “lean green roughage machine” and proclaiming it “as good as pizza!” (sure), there’s nothing half-baked about the way Super Pizza and Kid Kale proclaim themselves “perfectly paired partners” and soar off together. Smith cranks the almost frantic action up another notch in his loudly colored and loosely drawn cartoon scenes; speech bubbles and occasional use of panels give this one a graphic-novel look. Students and staff are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Dishes up a delicious duo, with a theme of reconciliation as the secret sauce. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-40370-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Inspiration, shrink wrapped.
From an artist, poet, and Instagram celebrity, a pep talk for all who question where a new road might lead.
Opening by asking readers, “Have you ever wanted to go in a different direction,” the unnamed narrator describes having such a feeling and then witnessing the appearance of a new road “almost as if it were magic.” “Where do you lead?” the narrator asks. The Road’s twice-iterated response—“Be a leader and find out”—bookends a dialogue in which a traveler’s anxieties are answered by platitudes. “What if I fall?” worries the narrator in a stylized, faux hand-lettered type Wade’s Instagram followers will recognize. The Road’s dialogue and the narration are set in a chunky, sans-serif type with no quotation marks, so the one flows into the other confusingly. “Everyone falls at some point, said the Road. / But I will always be there when you land.” Narrator: “What if the world around us is filled with hate?” Road: “Lead it to love.” Narrator: “What if I feel stuck?” Road: “Keep going.” De Moyencourt illustrates this colloquy with luminous scenes of a small, brown-skinned child, face turned away from viewers so all they see is a mop of blond curls. The child steps into an urban mural, walks along a winding country road through broad rural landscapes and scary woods, climbs a rugged metaphorical mountain, then comes to stand at last, Little Prince–like, on a tiny blue and green planet. Wade’s closing claim that her message isn’t meant just for children is likely superfluous…in fact, forget the just.
Inspiration, shrink wrapped. (Picture book. 6-8, adult)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-26949-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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