by Susan Hood ; illustrated by Arree Chung ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 8, 2016
Think of it as a cautionary tale. If you can fix a chair, you can put away the skateboard.
Stuff happens. Things break, but fixing them can be as much fun as breaking them, sometimes.
Young, bespectacled Joshua James is a fix-it kind of kid. Not only can he mend the chair and get the couch-pillow bridge back up, but he is an inventor as well. Getting out of bed can be a drag, so why not invent a Rube Goldberg–ian device to make the day’s entrance exciting? In Chung’s busy, clever illustrations, Joshua James’ cockamamie plans use physics and gerbils to get the job done. Hood’s text is a different matter. The rhymes are tired (“Joshua James is the Fix-It Man. / If he can’t fix it, no one can!”) and tonally out of sync with the smart ebullience of the illustrations. There are also elements of the narrative that are strangely wayward: when Joshua James’ baby sister runs afoul of a pulley, Joshua James apologizes; when Joshua James’ dad takes a header after stepping on a skateboard the Fix-It Man left on the walk, readers are told, “Everyone goofs, and things can break. / Even dads can make mistakes!” Yeah, Dad, watch where you’re walking. The characters all have brown hair and light skin.
Think of it as a cautionary tale. If you can fix a chair, you can put away the skateboard. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-237085-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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by Amy Krouse Rosenthal ; illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2015
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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by Amy Krouse Rosenthal & Christy Webster ; illustrated by Brigette Barrager & Chiara Fiorentino
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by Julie Dillemuth ; illustrated by Laura Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 8, 2019
An adorable adventure in cartography.
An exercise of spatial thinking through a snowy forest.
Camilla the warthog collects maps. Maps of stars, New York, even the London Tube. She even owns an ancient map of her forest. Unfortunately for her, she believes all lands have been explored and there is nothing new to chart. However, with a snowy morning comes a new opportunity. When her hedgehog neighbor, Parsley, asks for her help in finding the creek, Camilla quivers with excitement when she realizes the snow-covered land “is uncharted territory.” With all landmarks covered in snow, Camilla and Parsley must use their spatial-reasoning skills and a compass to find a new way to the creek. Their trailblazing journey proves a challenge as they keep bumping into trees, rocks, and walls. But when they find the creek, Camilla will have all the information and tools ready to draw out a new map, to break out in case of another snowfall. Wood’s delightful illustrations and Dillemuth’s expertise in the matter engage readers in the woodland creatures’ adventures. In addition, Dillemuth, who holds a doctorate in geography, provides activities in the backmatter for parents and caregivers to help children develop their own spatial-reasoning skills, such as sketching and reading maps or using cardinal directions.
An adorable adventure in cartography. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4338-3033-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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