A visually stunning folktale that could benefit from further plot and character development.
Gamarra offers an illustrated children’s tale inspired by Japanese folklore about a mischievous child and a mythical creature.
The story centers on Kai, a boy who lives in the town of Willow Creek and loves storytelling. He shares a tale with his friends about water-dwelling Kappas—green creatures who have turtlelike skin, webbed fingers, and bowl-shaped heads filled with water. They’re tricksters who snatch children, Kai says, so one must keep their distance and speak respectfully to them. Kai’s storytelling scares the kids, and a nearby baker, Mr. Peterson, tells him to stop. The boy retreats to a creek and cries out, “Kappas, come out and get me if you can!” Nothing happens, but Kai runs back to town, shouting that a Kappa tried to get him. Mr. Peterson and the children come to the creek but see no Kappas. Later, Kai tries to find a Kappa again, and a terrifying creature with froglike eyes, stringy hair, and a gap-toothed grin emerges from the water. The Kappa invites the boy for a swim and tries to grab him. Kai remembers to be respectful and apologizes for his teasing and lies. The Kappa bows before disappearing into the creek. Kai runs back to town to report the sighting, but no one believes him; still, whenever someone calls out “Kappa,” the children bow, just in case. Gamarra explores themes of honesty, politeness, and consequences in this children’s book, and her protagonist embodies a relatable curiosity and rascality that will draw readers in. The prose is detailed and evocative, especially regarding the Kappa’s appearance: “A crown of slick, black hair surrounded the strange bowl-like head, neatly balancing the water inside as if it were a little pond.” Pilosio’s intricate full-color illustrations, feature varied textures and create an immersive, ancient ambiance for Kai’s adventures. However, although Gamarra sustains suspenseful tension throughout the book, the confrontation with the Kappa feels oddly anticlimactic. It’s also unclear why Mr. Peterson, rather than a relative, is the only named adult in Kai’s life.
A visually stunning folktale that could benefit from further plot and character development.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
