An amusing, subdued story with exemplary illustrations, this sweet flight of fancy will find a young audience eager to...
A confection of marshmallows harbors quixotic dreams of greatness.
“Most marshmallows don’t grow on trees,” starts this understated story. With quiet humor, the text informs children that, like them, “Most marshmallows are mostly born to one sweet parent or two,” and that “They go to school most mornings / and learn to be squishy and how to stand in rows.” Most marshmallows seem to navigate with equanimity the realities and dramas of domestic life, like a bursting backpack or a dinner tantrum. “But some marshmallows somehow secretly know / that all marshmallows / can do anything / or be anything / they dare to imagine.” The inventive, sly, mixed-media illustrations provide wit and delight only hinted at by the spare, idiosyncratic prose. A mixture of paper collage, photographs of objects (like a cardboard dinner table loaded with plastic carrots), and hilariously expressive line drawings on real marshmallows pack beauty, tension, and drama into each page. An unnecessary throughline involving dragons slightly mars the overall feel of the story, especially the jarring ending in which a marshmallow knight breathes fire at one; the humor and kid appeal work perfectly without that bit of pandering.
An amusing, subdued story with exemplary illustrations, this sweet flight of fancy will find a young audience eager to devour it. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5959-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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