A delightful (re)discovery.
In author/illustrator Greenwood’s picture-book reissue, a little boy creates a wild, willful toy.
One morning, a child (called only “the Maker”) wakes up and decides to craft a kite. When it’s finished, there’s no wind, and the boy must wait. After waiting several days, the wind picks up and the kite is airborne. It first lands in the blackberries, then in the pond. Mrs. Pinch, a neighbor, disapproves, but Mr. Crinkle, another local, offers a new word to describe the kite: “Ob stre per ous….It means naughty and hard to manage.” (The humans all present as White.) The Maker names the kite Obstreperous and gives it a frowning face; it flies higher and higher until the string snaps. The Maker is sad, but Obstreperous, now smiling, floats away, unfettered. The simple language makes good use of line breaks, as in the lines “The face of the Maker looked sad as his eyes followed the string / that went / nowhere,” arranged next to the downcast boy. These lend the work surprising emotional weight, particularly during its bittersweet ending. However, the illustrations make this book magical. Originally published in 1969, the book has a gratifyingly funky 20th-century look with a mix of line drawings, simple color washes, and doodlelike fills, all in soft, earthy tones, making it feel simultaneously familiar and fresh.
A delightful (re)discovery.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-944860-47-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Anthology Editions
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.
After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.
Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622360
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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