This winner is sure to find a spot on shelves, although it won’t stay there long.
Elya has proven herself a master at painlessly weaving Spanish vocabulary into her stories, and this latest is no exception.
Four bomberos and el capitán race to gear up and get to the fire after the alarm sounds. As humo fills the sky, they work together to aim the hose and douse las flamas. Firefighting is a perennially popular topic, and while the actual story here is rather unexceptional, Elya makes this book stand out in other ways. Yes, there are Dalmatians in the station and a fire pole to slide down. There is danger and the rescue of a cat. But there is also a woman on this firefighting team, and as always, Elya’s rhyming couplets are a joy to read aloud. Context clues as well as words that are close to English make most of the Spanish vocabulary easy to decode. A glossary helps readers with any they may be unsure of and provides pronunciation help. Santat’s illustrations also help to set this firefighter book apart. From the first page, he thrusts readers into the action with up-close views created with colored pencil, water on ink print, fire and Photoshop. His firefighters are real people with needs, interests and fears, who sweat and get dirty.
This winner is sure to find a spot on shelves, although it won’t stay there long. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-59990-461-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pet is a good companion—in the singular not the plural
Many moose mean much merriment—or do they?
Little redheaded, freckled white Martha wants a pet. She consults several books and with great enthusiasm decides to get a moose. The match between Martha and moose is so felicitous that she goes online and orders “one more… // and one more and one more / until she had four!” But even four are not enough, and Martha keeps adding to her menagerie. The moose all happily participate in many activities, many of which start with the letter M: mixing up mud pies, solving math equations, making muffins, and dancing to a mambo beat. Alas, one day the many moose “run amok!” and make messes and mistakes. So back they go, via mail, except for the first moose. Bakos has written a humorous tale filled with rhythm and M-wordplay. Is it an object lesson in the chimerical nature of wish fulfillment or the dangers of online ordering? Maybe, but more than anything, this is great fun to read aloud and an entertaining ode to human-animal friendship. Chambers’ digital illustrations on a white background present moose that are animated, antic, and delightfully personable.
A pet is a good companion—in the singular not the plural . (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-0935-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
This almost-wordless picture book will appeal to young children who are experts at “reading” pictures, but their execution...
Syndicated comic-strip artist Tatulli ("Lio" and "The Heart of the City") translates his signature style into a debut picture book about the power of imagination.
An alarm clock brriinnggs and a blond, blue-eyed, white boy named Henry wakes up and gets dressed. Everything seems unremarkable, save his cowboy hat and boots, both red, until Henry digs deep inside a cereal box for the promised prize and tumbles in. When he opens his eyes, he finds himself in a wonderland filled with Technicolor cereal mountains and milk rivers. This is just the first of Henry’s wacky daydreams. His overactive imagination engages just long enough for him to get into trouble before shouts of “Henry!…Daydreaming again!” jolt him out of his reveries. In class, Henry hang glides on alphabets to the sun and slides down the globe—right into a bookcase full of books. And during recess, a wild ride on a grasshopper lands him in the mud. In an unexpected metafictive twist, Henry and his adventures turn out to be part of an Asian girl’s daydreams. Visually, Tatulli creates an interesting assemblage of comic panels, white space, and variations in perspective to create a dynamic story. However, his illustrations may better suit black-and-white newsprint, as the combination of rough edges and dark pencil outlines with flat, relatively unmodulated application of color is jarring.
This almost-wordless picture book will appeal to young children who are experts at “reading” pictures, but their execution falls short. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62672-354-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
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