Imaginative but eerie; the illustrations demand sturdy as well as fanciful readers.
A picture book about the antics of the imaginary night children.
This cyclic story tells of night children and their nighttime activities, which are, to put it prosaically, anthropomorphized natural events: “It is the night children who chase fireflies until the yard looks full of yellow stars….who rip the leaves off trees….who string gossamer webs across doorways and trees.” Tsiang’s lyric prose gently probes the mystery of the waking and sleeping worlds in her undeniably richly imagined story, but Bodet’s illustrations give it a darker tone. She renders the night children as ephemeral creatures shaped like human children, dressed alike in white and gray, and wearing monster-face hats pulled all the way down to their mostly expressionless mouths. She sets many scenes in stark—and dark—city streets, creating an atmosphere of mystery that verges on creepy. Both the writing and the illustrations work—but separately; the two don’t mesh well together. Tsiang’s words seem to tell of a night filled with innocent imaginative enchantment, while Bodet’s pictures give a scarier impression. The story ends in the light of day, with the city streets replaced by a comfortable suburb, which helps lighten the overall tone.
Imaginative but eerie; the illustrations demand sturdy as well as fanciful readers. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-55451-723-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Uninspiring.
A child living in a surveillance state uncovers another way of life.
Bix and her family live under the constant supervision of the Eyes, floating yellow orbs with robotic arms and complete control over the daily lives of the inhabitants of this futuristic, unnamed abstract city. Through short, straightforward prose and comic panels depicting a space age–esque setting, readers learn that Bix dislikes the Eyes’ assistance and surveillance, occasionally feels lonely, and hates her Eye-assigned reading. One day, she follows a rat underground and discovers the ruins of a very different city—one that appears much like one in which readers may live, albeit abandoned. There, she finds a library, a museum, and a grocery store—and evidence of a life before the Eyes, even the idea that once not everyone liked the Eyes. After a few days, she misses her family and returns to the city above with her new rat companion and a mountain of books. Everyone but the Eyes rejoices, and Bix begins a reading revolution that ends with the destruction of the Eyes. In this half-baked Nineteen-Eighty-Four–meets–City of Ember for kids, Yaccarino’s choppy writing leaves much to be desired. Though the text is simple, the concepts seem to be aimed at an older age range; the result is hardly the life-changing reading Bix finds underground. Bix and most of the city’s inhabitants are purple-skinned; other characters have skin the white of the page. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Uninspiring. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66265-089-5
Page Count: 72
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
An effervescent, adorable series opener.
Rory’s attempts at spellcasting often go awry, but a new school and new friends help her see that there is more to being a great fairy godmother than what she can do with her wand.
Though Rory can spell different words, casting magical spells is a different story: “What she wanted to spell with her wand and what came out of her wand never matched.” When she tries to conjure up socks, she ends up with rocks. When she wants new, she gets blue. The other students at Bibbidi Bobbidi Academy for godmothers- and godfathers-in-training don’t seem to have any of the same problems, and Rory’s spelling only gets a little better with practice. But when Rory and two classmates must help a lonely boy as their first magical assignment, Rory realizes that her spelling troubles won’t necessarily keep her from being good at granting wishes. The author’s play on the idea of spelling will be amusing to readers who are still learning to spell with letters rather than a wand, and Rory’s excitement and nervousness will resonate with many children. Energetic illustrations, often incorporating images from nature, feature cheerful, vivid colors and delicately drawn scenes. Rory has brown skin and dark hair; her school is diverse.
An effervescent, adorable series opener. (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-368-05739-4
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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