In Doyle’s first picture book, a girl matures in the shadow of grief. Siobhán’s mother died seven years ago, and she and her depressed father live in a rambling house full of memories but bereft of photos. Siobhán, now ten, remembers her mother’s hands and voice but not her face. Sitting under a park tree, she confides in a compassionate, mysterious woman, who advises that to see her mother’s face, she “should look in the mirror.” The story’s compression (Siobhán grows up and has a daughter), longish text and tinge of magical realism will charm some readers and possibly confuse others: The woman in the park (a figment? a vision?) whispers a message for Siobhán’s father that only her mother would know. Blackwood’s precise watercolor palette’s greens and reds visually link three generations of females through their sweetly detailed clothing and handed-down shoes and scarf. Siobhán’s father’s grey clothes and sadness remain, though the mystery woman’s message, which Siobhán remembers and utters years later, evokes a torrent of spoken, healing memories. Poignant. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-439-81501-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Levine/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2008
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
At her best, Rylant’s (The Ticky-Tacky Doll, below, etc.) sweetness and sentiment fills the heart; in this outing, however, sentimentality reigns and the end result is pretty gooey. Pandora keeps a lighthouse: her destiny is to protect ships at sea. She’s lonely, but loves her work. She rescues Seabold and heals his broken leg, and he stays on to mend his shipwrecked boat. This wouldn’t be so bad but Pandora’s a cat and Seabold a dog, although they are anthropomorphized to the max. Then the duo rescue three siblings—mice!—and make a family together, although Rylant is careful to note that Pandora and Seabold each have their own room. Choosing what you love, caring for others, making a family out of love, it is all very well, but this capsizes into silliness. Formatted to look like the start of a new series. Oh, dear. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-84880-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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