A fun gorilla tale that’s perfect for parents lap reading to giggling youngsters.
Two brothers find a caged green ape and discover how far the creature will go to catch them in this rhyming debut picture book.
Mark and his big brother, Stu, who have tan skin, are familiar with the stories about the giant gorilla on a nearby island—but they don’t believe the tales. Despite warning signs posted around the island, the boys persist in exploring until they enter a cave, where they find a cage. “In the cage was an ape that was big as a wall. / Twenty—no, Thirty—no, FIFTY feet tall!” Continuing to ignore the signs, Stu dares Mark to touch the ape, and when the gorilla roars, the boys decide to make their escape. But the ape busts out of the cage and chases them across the water, through the city, and to their grandfather’s farm, all the while enjoying the game. The reveal at the end is sure to tickle young readers, and Thompson’s illustrations offer a gorilla that’s never too scary despite his size and strange color. The digital cartoons are short on details, but the compositions imply depth and portray action effectively. Woolford’s rhymes feel almost Seussian, and the silliness of the giant ape seems in keeping with other Dr. Seuss conceits. The layout uses green text for Mark’s dialogue, blue text for Stu’s, ominous red text for the warning signs, and a larger typeface for the creature’s repeated “BOOM BOOM BOOM” sounds.
A fun gorilla tale that’s perfect for parents lap reading to giggling youngsters.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-73-714041-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: Green Gorilla Books
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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
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