A sure-fire hit; what Oliver would like to do with his big sister should be next.
What older sister hasn’t wanted to make her baby brother disappear?
Every time Ruby asks her mom if it’s time to play, she’s putting a diaper on Oliver, fixing his lunch or feeding him. Ruby tries reading and dressing up her dog, Rory, but it’s not the same without Mom. Ruby, with Rory at her side, waves her magic wand (a stick) to imagine making the baby disappear; she also imagines hiding him in the cabbages at the supermarket, putting him in a yard sale, and—her best idea—building a rocket and sending him to the moon. Best of all is when Mom joins in the space adventure. While many versions of this familiar storyline are available, it’s Dempsey’s charming watercolor-and-pen illustrations that set this apart. The soft, pale hues against white backgrounds create tender scenes in a style that blends the wispy touch of Charlotte Voake and the sensibility of Jan Ormerod. Details add dashes of humor, delineate emotions and imbue Rory with personality (his doggie comments are fun). Each fantasy is illustrated with a full-page depiction of the deed in an appropriate style—a sign affixed to a tree for the yard sale and space-age typeface to narrate the trip to the moon.
A sure-fire hit; what Oliver would like to do with his big sister should be next. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6241-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
An expertly crafted, soulful, and humorous work that tenderly explores identity, culture, and the bond between father and...
Thunder Boy Smith Jr. hates his name.
The Native American boy is named after his father, whose nickname is Big Thunder. Thunder Boy Jr. says his nickname, Little Thunder, makes him "sound like a burp or a fart." Little Thunder loves his dad, but he longs for a name that celebrates something special about him alone. He muses, “I love playing in the dirt, so maybe my name should be Mud in His Ears.…I love powwow dancing. I’m a grass dancer. So maybe my name should be Drums, Drums, and More Drums!” Little Thunder wonders how he can express these feelings to his towering father. However, he need not worry. Big Thunder knows that the time has come for his son to receive a new name, one as vibrant as his blossoming personality. Morales’ animated mixed-media illustrations, reminiscent of her Pura Belpré Award–winning work in Niño Wrestles the World (2013), masterfully use color and perspective to help readers see the world from Little Thunder’s point of view. His admiration of his dad is manifest in depictions of Big Thunder as a gentle giant of a man. The otherwise-muted palette bursts with color as Thunder Boy Jr. proudly enumerates the unique qualities and experiences that could inspire his new name.
An expertly crafted, soulful, and humorous work that tenderly explores identity, culture, and the bond between father and son. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-01372-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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