Readers will love the illustrations, but they might also feel cheated by the premise—disappointing.
So many choices in a seemingly simple day!
“What will Danny wear today?” Colorful socks pour out of his dresser, and the open wardrobe offers a rainbow of colors and patterns and styles. And so goes the day. Every double-page spread of options is dense with lively figures and raucous color. Will the brown-haired white boy choose a “crunchy, chewy, or wobbly” breakfast? What will he drink? He can pedal, skip, walk, ride, or zip to school, and what will he learn there? Painting…playing the piano...rocket building? Who will teach Danny today: the turbaned Sikh, the green ET with five eyes, Shakespeare? During physical education, will he “run, jump, or hit balls?” And at recess, “slide, swing, or seesaw?” What will he do for his after-school art activity? What will he do with his dad after that? At the end of the long day, which book will he choose? And here the book at last provides an answer: the very one readers are holding! Goodhart presents copious choices but (except for the end) never reveals what Danny has chosen. The cover’s claim that readers get to “decide” what Danny does is plain false. But Usher’s shaggy, busy illustrations, bristling with visual foolishness and populated by a multiracial cast, are a delight.
Readers will love the illustrations, but they might also feel cheated by the premise—disappointing. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61067-512-3
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for...
Oliver, of first-day-of-school alligator fame, is back, imagining adventures and still struggling to find balance between introversion and extroversion.
“When Oliver found his egg…” on the playground, mint-green backgrounds signifying Oliver’s flight into fancy slowly grow larger until they take up entire spreads; Oliver’s creature, white and dinosaurlike with orange polka dots, grows larger with them. Their adventures include sharing treats, sailing the seas and going into outer space. A classmate’s yell brings him back to reality, where readers see him sitting on top of a rock. Even considering Schmid’s scribbly style, readers can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he ponders the girl and whether or not to give up his solitary play. “But when Oliver found his rock… // Oliver imagined many adventures // with all his friends!” This last is on a double gatefold that opens to show the children enjoying the creature’s slippery curves. A final wordless spread depicts all the children sitting on rocks, expressions gleeful, wondering, waiting, hopeful. The illustrations, done in pastel pencil and digital color, again make masterful use of white space and page turns, although this tale is not nearly as funny or tongue-in-cheek as Oliver and His Alligator (2013), nor is its message as clear and immediately accessible to children.
Still, this young boy’s imagination is a powerful force for helping him deal with life, something that should be true for all children but sadly isn’t. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-7573-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
A funny David-versus-Goliath story with a one-word question serving as the slingshot. (Picture book. 3-5)
Doctor X-Ray, a megalomaniac with an X-ray blaster and an indestructible battle suit, crashes through the ceiling of the local mall.
Innocent patrons scatter to safety. But one curious child gazes directly at the bully and asks: “Why?” At first, Doctor X-Ray answers with all the menace and swagger of a supervillain. The curious child, armed with only a stuffed bear and clad in a bright red dress, is not satisfied with the answers and continues asking: “Why?” As his pale cheeks flush with emotion, Doctor X-Ray peels back the onion of his interior life, unearthing powerful reasons behind his pursuit of tyranny. This all sounds heavy, but the humorously monotonous questions coupled with free-wheeling illustrations by Keane set a quick pace with comical results. At 60 pages, the book has room to follow this thread back to the diabolical bully’s childhood. Most of the answers go beyond a child’s understanding—parental entertainment between the howl of the monosyllabic chorus. It is the digital artwork, which is reminiscent of Quentin Blake’s, that creates a joyful undercurrent of rebellion with bold and loose brush strokes, patches of color, and expressive faces. The illustrations harken to a previous era save for the thoroughly liberated Asian child speaking truth to power.
A funny David-versus-Goliath story with a one-word question serving as the slingshot. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-6863-0
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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