A pair of toys perched on a Parisian windowsill decides to embark on an adventure. Cosmos, the wooden plane complains to his friend Woggy, a stuffed dog, that he has never been out of their playroom. Woggy, pointing at the white dome in the distance suggests, “That’s Somewhere,” and off they go, Woggy astride Cosmos. Their joy ride turns from fun to fright when they copy birds’ antics, flying figure eights, losing control and when, before they know it, blue skies have given way to dark growling clouds. They’re tossed and thrown, landing on the roof of the white-domed building they had seen from afar—the Sacré-Coeur. Their adventure concludes with the pair’s view of the Parisian cityscape, this time from atop a Sacré-Coeur gargoyle. Ichikawa’s illustrations convey a sense of place and energy, motion and exuberance, the plane and passenger on the cover heading into the story. The whirling propeller, blowing scarf, ears and paint blurred by air movement create an energy that conveys the character’s zest for adventure. Billowy white clouds fill pastel blue skies as the endpapers echo the circular form of the story. A deceptively simple adventure that will appeal to young children who complain they don’t go anywhere. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24679-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2008
Mixed-race children certainly deserve mirror books, but they also deserve excellent text and illustrations. This one misses...
This tan-skinned, freckle-faced narrator extols her own virtues while describing the challenges of being of mixed race.
Protagonist Lilly appears on the cover, and her voluminous curly, twirly hair fills the image. Throughout the rhyming narrative, accompanied by cartoonish digital illustrations, Lilly brags on her dark skin (that isn’t very), “frizzy, wild” hair, eyebrows, intellect, and more. Her five friends present black, Asian, white (one blonde, one redheaded), and brown (this last uses a wheelchair). This array smacks of tokenism, since the protagonist focuses only on self-promotion, leaving no room for the friends’ character development. Lilly describes how hurtful racial microaggressions can be by recalling questions others ask her like “What are you?” She remains resilient and says that even though her skin and hair make her different, “the way that I look / Is not all I’m about.” But she spends so much time talking about her appearance that this may be hard for readers to believe. The rhyming verse that conveys her self-celebration is often clumsy and forced, resulting in a poorly written, plotless story for which the internal illustrations fall far short of the quality of the cover image.
Mixed-race children certainly deserve mirror books, but they also deserve excellent text and illustrations. This one misses the mark on both counts. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63233-170-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eifrig
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Who hasn’t shared the aggravation of a whole day’s worth of bone-rattling hiccups? Poor Skeleton wakes up with a deadly case that he can’t shake, and it’s up to his friend Ghost to think of something to scare them away. Cuyler (Stop, Drop, and Roll, 2001, etc.) cleverly brings readers through the ups and downs of Skeleton’s day, from shower to ball-playing. Home folk remedies (holding his breath, eating sugar) don’t seem to work, but Ghost applies a new perspective startling enough to unhinge listeners and Skeleton alike. While the concept is clever, it’s Schindler’s (How Santa Lost His Job, 2001, etc.) paintings, done with gouache, ink, and watercolor, that carry the day, showing Skeleton’s own unique problems—water pours out of his hollow eyes when he drinks it upside down, his teeth spin out of his head when he brushes them—that make a joke of the circumstances. Oversized spreads open the scene to read-aloud audiences, but hold intimate details for sharp eyes—monster slippers, sugar streaming through the hollow body. For all the hiccupping, this outing has a quiet feel not up to the standards of some of Cuyler’s earlier books, but the right audience will enjoy its fun. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-689-84770-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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