An amusing tale about unicorns in the city, with undertones of citizen action and female empowerment.
When New York City prosecutors try to debunk the “unicorns” in a circus, a young girl and her aunt’s friends defend the maligned mythical animals in court.
Actress-turned-author Sockwell makes her writing debut with a comical chapter book (heavily illustrated by her) whose point of departure is the Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus' displaying a live “unicorn” a few decades ago. The animal was actually a one-horned goat, and in Sockwell’s riff, there is an entire herd of them. New York schoolgirl Emily becomes enchanted with the creatures. She’s not enjoying class, and the notion of unicorns brings magic into Emily’s world—as does visiting her eccentric, cigar-smoking maiden aunt Betty, who comes accessorized with a set of equally quirky, strong-minded, middle-aged friends. When New York authorities and media crack down on the circus, accusing it of promulgating fraud and animal cruelty, Emily inspires Betty to get her activist-lawyer friend Marge to champion the case for legally recognized unicorn existence. In a denouement not unlike Miracle on 34th Street, Marge and Emily wind up in court attempting to prove to a jury the right of goats to self-identify as unicorns if that’s what they really want—in Sockwell’s universe, goats/unicorns and other animals can talk, testify, and behave just like humans (and worry about their futures in showbiz). While certain grown-up readers who demand to sift for agendas in all the whimsy may detect a subliminal argument for LGBT rights, young readers will likely just enjoy the gentle silliness of the prose and the line-art drawings. There are certainly undisguised themes of girl power (and mature woman power) and standing up for a cause one believes in, even if by the end of the clever story Emily seems a bit torn between an adult career as a crusading lawyer like Marge and a beguiling Hollywood actress with lots of swimsuits.
An amusing tale about unicorns in the city, with undertones of citizen action and female empowerment.Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63177-441-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Mascot Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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