This ninja leaves no lasting mark, yet it has enough quick rhymes and tricks that it will have young fans requesting repeat...
A child ninja in Japan embarks on his first covert mission in this fractured nursery rhyme.
“Jack B. Ninja! Jack, be quick! / Jack, jump over the bamboo stick!” Now that training is complete, his first mission commences. Told in rhyming couplets similar to, but at times not as fluent as, the original rhyme’s, the novice’s skills are put to the test. “Hide in shadow, out of sight.” He sneaks past a line of faceless samurai. In a Japanese garden, he finds an underwater tunnel and eventually infiltrates “a bandit cave.” There he finds his objective: a small red chest. Each obstacle Jack faces is introduced and resolved on the same page, including the climax of conflict: He is trapped in a pit full of bandits. Due to the lack of suspense and any obvious struggle, the plot has an overall lighthearted quality. However, its rapid, happy rhymes, paired with a decent twist when the chest’s contents are finally revealed, will appeal to little readers, especially during a read-aloud. The clean type, rhyme, and repetition also make this a good choice for a beginning reader. Savage’s illustrations are minimalist in detail and bold, with simple shapes and lines. He makes effective use of bright, contrasting colors, which pop to the eye. Still, this is but one ninja book on a crowded shelf.
This ninja leaves no lasting mark, yet it has enough quick rhymes and tricks that it will have young fans requesting repeat visits. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 26, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-545-91728-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug.
What to do when you’re a prickly animal hankering for a hug? Why, find another misfit animal also searching for an embrace!
Sweet but “tricky to hug” little Hedgehog is down in the dumps. Wandering the forest, Hedgehog begs different animals for hugs, but each rejects them. Readers will giggle at their panicked excuses—an evasive squirrel must suddenly count its three measly acorns; a magpie begins a drawn-out song—but will also be indignant on poor hedgehog’s behalf. Hedgehog has the appealingly pink-cheeked softness typical of Dunbar’s art, and the gentle watercolors are nonthreatening, though she also captures the animals’ genuine concern about being poked. A wise owl counsels the dejected hedgehog that while the prickles may frighten some, “there’s someone for everyone.” That’s when Hedgehog spots a similarly lonely tortoise, rejected due to its “very hard” shell but perfectly matched for a spiky new friend. They race toward each other until the glorious meeting, marked with swoony peach swirls and overjoyed grins. At this point, readers flip the book to hear the same gloomy tale from the tortoise’s perspective until it again culminates in that joyous hug, a book turn that’s made a pleasure with thick creamy paper and solid binding.
Watching unlikely friends finally be as “happy as two someones can be” feels like being enveloped in your very own hug. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-571-34875-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
A humorous rhyming romp in which the usual fairy-tale villains are friends. (Picture book. 3-6)
Alice, the princess in the palace, loves her blankie, but it’s missing, so the search is on.
Her brother, Jack, used it as a curtain until a giant stole it to use as a hankie, until a witch flew off with it and made a cloak from it, until it was taken by…a cranky-looking dragon who happens to be snoring on it when Alice finds them. Alice is cranky herself but halts a brief blankie tug of war for a better solution: finding the dragon his own bedtime snuggly. It’s not easy. The dragon grows increasingly weepy, but he won’t snuggle with the witch’s “far too scratchy” cat, the giant’s feather pillow (it makes him sneeze), or Jack’s stinky socks. What can Alice do? A thorough search of the palace finally yields the dragon’s perfect snuggly and earns Alice a lifelong friend and protector. Muted mixed-media cartoon illustrations create rich backstories for each character combined with a sophisticated, smoothly reading rhyme scheme to produce a fast-moving friendship story that problem-solving young children will appreciate. Princess Alice, Prince Jack, and the giant present as dark-haired white characters.
A humorous rhyming romp in which the usual fairy-tale villains are friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0819-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
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