An endearing tale of kindness, bravery, and a surprising friendship.
A trio of young monsters meets a grouchy king in this picture book.
One-eyed, forlorn King Spallenzairek lives alone in Castle Zair, far from the kingdom below where three young monsters—Taft, Barkley, and Spur—enjoy playing soccer. Their parents warn them to stay away from the monarch (nicknamed “King Rek”), who “eats little monsters for snacks!” But one day, the three feel adventurous and take their soccer game to the “grassy grounds” of Castle Zair. When the ball soars “through an open castle window,” it hits King Rek and knocks “his royal crown right off.” He angrily confronts the youngsters, who apologize. To their surprise, King Rek smiles and explains that he feels sad because “everyone thinks I’m mean, but I’m really not. I just look like a scary monster.” He even joins them in a rousing game on the castle grounds. The young monsters can’t wait to tell their parents that the king isn’t so bad after all. They are pleased to have made an unexpected pal. Rae’s quirky fantasy offers an essential lesson about eschewing stereotypes and giving newcomers a chance. The engaging tale also exemplifies extending compassion and welcoming those who are dissimilar, as the young characters notably disregard assumptions and judgments based on the king’s appearance. G.’s charming illustrations feature bright scenes with cheerful backdrops where the green, yellow, and blue fuzzy monsters play soccer. The images include vivid details, including forests and brick dwellings.
An endearing tale of kindness, bravery, and a surprising friendship.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73239-060-7
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Sunny G Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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A perennial read that radiates summer’s heady glee.
Summer’s smells, sounds, rhythms, and rituals unspool luxuriantly in this tribute to the season when “days stretch out like a slow yawn,” when “bumblebees bumble,” and “every day is like a Saturday.”
An elementary school–age boy with light-brown skin and a shock of dark hair giddily greets summer’s markers: the final day of class, a lemonade stand, neighborhood hide-and-seek, July 4th parade and fireworks, camping and cooling off at a lake. He relishes summer’s free-wheeling ease alongside a swirling pack of friends, a group of children with delightfully ambiguous skin tones—tan, taupe, medium brown, dark brown—but all scarlet-cheeked from sunny afternoons. In gleeful acrylic illustrations, their eyes crinkle and pop with joy, their arms fly skyward, their legs extend midstride. These exuberant motions and feelings, uncomplicated but deeply understood by children, appear atop soft summer scenes in gauzy greens and cotton whites. Looking at these fantastic freeze-frames of fun, young readers see their desire to halt time during summer months fulfilled. Hearing lush phrases that capture summer’s ethos (“daylight pushes back bedtimes, and crickets crick-crick in the evening air”), they can almost smell freshly mown lawns and taste campfire s’mores.
A perennial read that radiates summer’s heady glee. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6071-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
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