A clever, silly, and giggle-out-loud funny adventure.
When tiny creatures commandeer Sebastian’s room, everything goes haywire in this incredibly clever, beautifully designed picture book from debut author/illustrator Forbes.
“Some-Things are tiny, but you can see them if you look closely,” the story begins, filling the entire page with this single sentence in bubble letters of varying sizes. Several Some-Things live inside Sebastian’s house (only just visible in their bright colors, hiding inside the vent), and they invite every Some-Thing they know to come to a party. The multihued, multitextured creatures soon fill Sebastian’s room, much to Sebastian’s dismay. After two clever, almost-rhyming two-page spreads of the different types and shapes of Some-Things Sebastian encounters, the boy demands they leave his room. But—they protest—not without cake! Although there seems to be a Some-Thing for everything, not a one of them knows how to bake a cake, so they turn to their resident magician, who turns the entire house into a cake. After the Some-Things and all the human neighbors help to eat the house, the Some-Things helpfully build a new, grows-with-water home for Sebastian’s family, leading to one last visual joke in the endpapers. Forbes has designed the book so that the words themselves become part of the pictures, and the collage-textured illustrations, reminiscent of the Pinkalicious series, will have readers giggling. Sebastian’s misadventures are sure to tickle funny bones, and young readers will be looking at their bedroom vents for their own Some-Things.
A clever, silly, and giggle-out-loud funny adventure.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5255-1894-2
Page Count: 36
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
