An inspired retelling of a beloved tale.
A spin on “The Three Little Pigs” with an Inuit setting in the Nunavut territory of Canada.
This story was written by the Grade Four students of Leo Ussak School in Kangiqliniq, Nunavut, and their teacher Gianfrancesco. After completing a social studies unit on Inuit traditions and reading a variety of fairy tales, the class wrote their own version. The result is the story of three brothers sent out to find food for their community. The youngest brother, Ajagaq, pitches a tent made of caribou skins and prepares to wait out the fierce blowing blizzard, but the wind blows the tent down. Ajagaq is rescued by the middle brother, Tiriaq, and they find shelter by hollowing out a pocket in the side of a snow drift, but the wind rips through this shelter as well. Finally rescued by their eldest brother, Akkiutaq, they find shelter in his carefully built iglu. Despite the efforts of the wind, this is one shelter it cannot blow down. The story is charming and engaging, with a fresh and authentic feeling, due in large part to the use of Inuktut words sprinkled throughout. Paredes makes liberal use of blues and white that make the cold very real, and swirling lines give movement to the menacing wind. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An inspired retelling of a beloved tale. (glossary of Inuktut words, a note on the authors) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77227-428-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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BOOK REVIEW
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