A well-paced, delightful children’s book with a moral that’s clear without being heavy-handed.
In this entertaining, fantastical adventure for middle-grade readers, three siblings discover that running away from problems might create more of them.
Emily Miller is being bullied. Tired of people, she convinces her sister, Chloe, and brother, Jacob, to run away with her to Galumphagos Island. Chloe, who’s bored of being told to paint only pretty things, is easily convinced. Jacob, a karate student, is more hesitant, but he knows he can’t stand against his sisters when they have something planned. According to travel brochures, the island is a wonderful place where children can play with galumphers, delightful fuzzy creatures that are more fun to cuddle than stuffed animals. Children who run away to the island never return (thus proving that it is a paradise)—yet only galumphers live on the island. Astute readers will realize long before the three children that all is not right with Galumphagos Island, but watching the siblings come to their own conclusions and eventually outsmart the galumphers proves to be an enjoyable read. Maze’s black-and-white, cartoonish illustrations complement the book’s tone, too. In the opening pages, debut author Eisner plants some hints to the galumphers’ weaknesses and strengths, as the older sisters explain to Jacob what a “figure of speech” is; the galumphers always act literally, so they cannot understand those figures of speech—which is dangerous to the children (and, after the galumphers are unleashed on the mainland, to the world) but also a way for them to maneuver around the less intelligent creatures. “Jacob pointed at them and laughed out loud. He acted like he was laughing so hard that he had to double over. ‘I’m in stitches,’ he said as loud as he could. The galumphers got madder and madder.” Many children’s stories about discovering a magical place that isn’t all it’s cracked up to be might end with a return home, but Eisner cleverly continues the story, allowing the children to show what they’ve learned and prove that they’ve grown from their experience.
A well-paced, delightful children’s book with a moral that’s clear without being heavy-handed.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2013
ISBN: 978-1491082324
Page Count: 84
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In an imaginative wordless picture book, Wiesner (illustrator of Kite Flyer, 1986) tours a dream world suggested by the books and objects in a boy's room. A series of transitions—linked by a map in the book that the boy was reading as he fell asleep—wafts him, pajama-clad, from an aerial view of hedge-bordered fields to a chessboard with chess pieces, some changing into their realistic counterparts (plus a couple of eerie roundheaded figures based on pawns that reappear throughout); next appear a castle; a mysterious wood in which lurks a huge, whimsical dragon; the interior of a neoclassical palace; and a series of fantastic landscapes that eventually transport the boy back to his own bed. Most interesting here are the visual links Wiesner uses in his journey's evolution; it's fun to trace the many details from page to page. There's a bow to Van Allsburg, and another to Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, but Wiesner's broad double-spreads of a dream world—whose muted colors suggest a silent space outside of time—have their own charm. Intriguing.
Pub Date: April 20, 1988
ISBN: 978-0-06-156741-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1988
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