The bedizened, rose-colored cover will be enough to lure in young readers, and the rather formless storyline might even get...
A prettily conceived and executed design, a decorative Eastern European sensibility and a fairly unconventional storyline make Princess Antonia stand out among the current crop of princesses.
Antonia has toys, gowns and “the largest book collection in the entire kingdom” but finds herself unaccountably bored. Her friends always seem to be busy: Rapunzel’s in her tower, Cinderella’s cleaning, Snow White’s coping with a household full of dwarves, and Sleeping Beauty’s always tired. One day, Antonia simply runs out of the castle, out of town and into the forest. She finds that all of her friends decided to escape that day, too. Soon, all five princesses are joined by Little Red Riding Hood and a whole bevy of forest denizens. After they reach the sea, each returns home, energized: Rapunzel bobs her hair, Sleeping Beauty learns to practice yoga, and Antonia decides to take her elephant (!) out to run, too. This winsome, slight tale gains strength from its collaged, computer-manipulated illustrations. There are floral patterns and furbelows galore. Geometrically formed bodies have pipestem limbs, faces sport comma-and–polka-dot features, and some amazing curlicues of red, blonde, brown and black hair sprout from these girls’ heads.
The bedizened, rose-colored cover will be enough to lure in young readers, and the rather formless storyline might even get them thinking. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7624-4612-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
Deeply familiar but infused with 21st-century smarts; expect cries for repeated reads.
Two acclaimed creators retell a fairy-tale classic.
Employing a conversational style, Barnett offers a fresh and immensely entertaining take on an old story, much as he did with The Three Billy Goats Gruff, illustrated by Jon Klassen (2022). A miller (“a nice enough guy, but he had a big mouth”) encounters the king and, seeking to impress him, falsely claims that his daughter can spin straw into gold. What follows is the classic story, replete with spinning wheels and small men who make clandestine deals with the desperate for their offspring. While never diverging from the original, Barnett nevertheless allows his miller’s daughter, if not a name (on purpose, it turns out), then hobbies like “whittling sticks and catching tadpoles with her bare hands.” This miller’s daughter is still caught in the machinations of the men around her, but Barnett demonstrates that her love of the woods is key to her defeating Rumpelstiltskin. His sly retelling is perfectly complemented by art that at times resembles classical portraiture. Ellis also harkens back to fairy-tale images of yore with both lushly illustrated gouache pictures and small interstitial black-and-white spot art. Characters present white.
Deeply familiar but infused with 21st-century smarts; expect cries for repeated reads. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781338673852
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better.
Can flying puppies, fueled by people’s hugs, save the world from gloom?
Light-skinned Snarly McBummerpants is busy sending out Mopey Smokes (evil-looking dark brown clouds) from his volcano on the Island of Woe to create a sad state of affairs. But the caped puppies, each equipped with a rocket and hailing from “the outer reaches of NOT-FROM-HERE,” use their abilities to conquer the morose McBummerpants and bring happiness back to everyone’s lives. The meticulously detailed illustrations carry the story, dark colors turning to rainbow hues and frowns turning to smiles. From Big Brad to Tiny Brad, the smallest, most powerful puppy, who “[licks] a kiss right on the tip of Snarly McBummerpants’s nose,” these absolutely endearing pooches elicit a universal “AWWWWWWWWWW!” from all who encounter them. Joyce’s witty illustrations depict diverse children and adults who appear to hail from different decades. Two teenagers wear the bobby socks and saddle shoes of the 1940s and ’50s and sit atop a retro soda cooler. Other kids ride the skateboards of a later era. Laurel and Hardy, classic movie performers who may need introduction, are amusingly pictured as bullies turned florists (a little odd, since only Hardy bullied Laurel). Even McBummerpants seems reminiscent of an old-time movie villain. The text is less inventive than the pictures, but the message of good over evil is always timely.
Powered by whimsy and nostalgia, a doggone adorable tale of superheroes transforming the world for the better. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781665961332
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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