As substantive and satisfying as cotton candy.
Stella and her magic glasses are back in a new adventure about the mischievous little creatures that come out at night.
After meeting the Knit-Knotters (2016), Stella’s eager to see more of the night sprites, but when a friend loses a tooth at a sleepover, Stella hopes she’ll see the Tooth Fairy herself. What she sees, however, is a scooter-riding tooth bandit out to steal her friend’s coin from under her pillow and to replace it with a pencil sharpener. Hoping to guard against theft when her own loose tooth falls out, Stella visits the proprietor of the bead store, whose wand invested her glasses with magic in the first place. Now armed with a tiny whistle bead, Stella misses the Tooth Fairy but wakes up in time to meet tooth bandit Piper, who wants Stella’s coin to decorate her scooter. Some beads and a glue stick help Stella divert Piper from her coin. Summoning all the bandits with her whistle, Stella ends the depredations of the tooth bandits forever by showing them how to use beads to decorate their scooters. While Stella’s adventures have potential, they are dragged down by an excess of exclamation marks, wooden dialogue, and resolutions that come far too easily. The night sprites are developed with such dogged commitment to cuteness that they feel as manipulative and plastic as the pink aisle in a toy store.
As substantive and satisfying as cotton candy. (Fantasy. 6-8)Pub Date: March 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-82001-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
A title for confident emerging readers interested in new princess and knight stories
This early-reader adaptation of a Russian story reads like a “Cinderella” tale but casts a third-born son as its protagonist.
Ivan does good on his promise to his dying father to sit by his grave after he dies, and he also takes the place of his older brothers in the vigil when they are too frightened to stay true to their word. As a reward for his bravery and loyalty, the father’s ghost gives Ivan a magic bridle that ends up helping him win the princess’s hand in marriage even though he isn’t as handsome, rich or successful as his brothers or the other knights who compete in the challenge she sets forth. The story is broken up into short chapters, which will support new readers’ progress through the text, but sentence length, typeface and some vocabulary may prove challenging. Illustrations will doubtlessly help clarify the story, though a key plot detail that has Ivan passing through the ears of his magical horse, Starlight Grey, is not depicted in the art. Ultimately, the fresh fairy-tale content of the story will likely motivate readers to puzzle through its delivery even if it’s not just the right fit for their skills
A title for confident emerging readers interested in new princess and knight stories . (Early reader/folk tale. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-84686-778-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
Not awe-ful.
The creator of An Awesome Book! (2012) and its titularly similar companions offers an alphabet of uplift.
In lines of sometimes forcibly compelled rhyme (“Q is for Quiet / To escape from the madness / R is for Reading / But also for radness”), Clayton blends hand-lettered, characteristically inspirational watchwords and exhortations to dream big, aim high and make the most of the day, the world and life. These he surrounds with a smattering of pictures of unlabeled but common items and animals that are drawn in an engagingly simple, artless way and start with the appropriate letter. (Generally anyway: Viewers will likely puzzle over the guitar on the “A” page, and is the inscrutable lumplet in “C” a Cocoon? A sea Cucumber?) Children may enjoy the intellectual exercise of identifying the tiny images more than winkling personal meaning out of “E is for Everything / under the sun” or “V is for Values / and keeping them true,” but the feel-good tone is catching, and the sentiments make fertile discussion fodder.
Not awe-ful. (Inspirational picture book. 6-8, adult)Pub Date: March 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5745-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
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