Characteristic of this British team's earlier collaborations (The Snow Leopard, 1994, not reviewed, etc.), danger in the wild lurks in the form of predators until safety can be restored, but this time a slight story takes a backseat to lifelike, illustrated, natural-history dioramas about an endangered baby elephant. Bashi's first day of life finds him bogged down in the slurpy mud banks of an African watering hole, surrounded by hungry lionesses eager to make a meal of him. Bashi's mother, Neo, tries to lift the young calf with her trunk so that he does not remain a defenseless target. The threat of three lionesses provides the sole suspense as other elephant herd members attempt to aid Neo in freeing young Bashi. Sandy colors light up a sky awash in a tangerine-colored sunrise; a Mount Rushmore of lioness faces peers out of golden grasses. Butler's highly delineated wildlife studies lend a realism to each scene leading up to the rescue of Bashi, who is soon enveloped again in the comforting protection of the herd. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-670-87054-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1997
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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Action, clever humor, delightful illustrations and expectation-defying secret identities—when does the next one come out?
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Perfect Princess Magnolia has a secret—her alter ego is the Princess in Black, a superhero figure who protects the kingdom!
When nosy Duchess Wigtower unexpectedly drops by Princess Magnolia’s castle, Magnolia must protect her secret identity from the duchess’s prying. But then Magnolia’s monster alarm, a glitter-stone ring, goes off. She must save the day, leaving the duchess unattended in her castle. After a costume change, the Princess in Black joins her steed, Blacky (public identity: Frimplepants the unicorn), to protect Duff the goat boy and his goats from a shaggy, blue, goat-eating monster. When the monster refuses to see reason, Magnolia fights him, using special moves like the “Sparkle Slam” and the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Smash.” The rounded, cartoony illustrations featuring chubby characters keep the fight sequence soft and comical. Watching the fight, Duff notices suspicious similarities between the Princess in Black and Magnolia—quickly dismissed as “a silly idea”—much like the duchess’s dismissal of some discovered black stockings as being simply dirty, as “princesses don’t wear black.” The gently ironic text will amuse readers (including adults reading the book aloud). The large print and illustrations expand the book to a longish-yet-manageable length, giving newly independent readers a sense of accomplishment. The ending hints at another hero, the Goat Avenger.
Action, clever humor, delightful illustrations and expectation-defying secret identities—when does the next one come out? (Fantasy. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6510-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
Categories: CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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The familiar cumulative game is played by four children, along with their father and their dog, at the typically British beach pictured on the lovely, expansive first endpaper.
The children's real activities are shown in b&w drawings; the imaginative doings appear in full color. Although some of the color pages show perfectly possible events, most are clearly fantasy, suggesting just how close the two may be in children's minds. The family ends up in safe retreat in one big cozy bed; the bear is seen--on the second essential, beautiful endpaper--headed into a gloomy sea. Oxenbury's splendid watercolors and drawings perfectly evoke both landscape and the members of the questing family.
A handsome edition of an old favorite. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 1989
ISBN: 978-0-689-50476-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1989
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION
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