A well-illustrated fantasy tale about following one’s dreams.
In Leya and Saylor’s illustrated children’s book, a young tinkerer helps out the Tooth Fairy.
As a boy named Gabriel gets ready for bed, he counts the stars. While falling asleep, he likes to think about traveling to outer space and working in his makerspace—a workspace where he builds rockets. Building and tinkering is what Gabriel enjoys most in the world, and his teacher, Ms. Birnbry, encourages him to use his “unique mind”to explore new corners of the galaxy. When he loses a baby tooth, his mom reminds him to put it under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. Later, Gabriel is suddenly woken by the sound of a sputtering engine: The Tooth Fairy has arrived, and her tiny jetpack is having engine trouble. Enchanted by Gabriel’s bedroom makerspace, she asks for his help with repairs. He’s easily able to fix the fairy’s jetpack and is rewarded for his kindness when the Tooth Fairy shrinks him down to her small size, and they fly to Tooth Fairy Land where there’s a parade every day and a massive orchard of coins in the center of town. Gabriel learns that lost teeth become the stars in Tooth Fairy Land’s sky. He returns home and later awakens to find a note from the Tooth Fairy and some gold coins. Leya and Saylor present a story that effectively encourages readers to follow their passions and help others; the protagonist’s mother and new Tooth Fairy friend both support his skills and dreams; the latter, in a letter, tells him, “May you always shine brightly and continue to dream big.” Sulima’s full-color illustrations are drawn very realistically, and the character images have an angelic quality, reminiscent of Precious Moments figurines. The backgrounds on each page are comprehensive and detailed and will pull readers into the story with their nighttime color palettes of muted greens and blues with occasional orange and purple.
A well-illustrated fantasy tale about following one’s dreams.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9798986947396
Page Count: 28
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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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