Slung beneath a blue dirigible painted with golden stars, the lonely Sandman goes searching for a nocturnal friend in Heusser’s atmospheric debut. Unfortunately, everyone he approaches, from wakeful children to a burglar, from forest creatures to fish, promptly falls asleep. Of course. Dressed in exotic, vaguely Asian robes, the Sandman’s childlike figure adds an element of magic to the twilit, precisely drawn modern world through which he drifts. Scene after scene of peacefully dozing creatures (the policeman asleep on the burglar’s shoulder) set the stage for the listener to drift off as well, but not before reaching the happy conclusion. In the end, by looking beyond the earth, he finds the friend he seeks in the ever-wakeful Moon, who has been waiting for him to notice her faint smile. A simply told, quietly beautiful tale that will be equally welcome at story time, and at bedtime. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7358-1789-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cute and brave—gee, Rot’s spud-tacular!
A “scaredy-spud” puts on his brave face.
All “mutant potatoes” love mud. Mud is good for playing games, eating, and even sleeping. But few taters have more tender feelings toward muck than Rot. À la Pete the Cat, Rot celebrates mud in song: “Mud between my toes! / Mud in my nose! / Mud is GREAT / wherever it GOES!” When Rot’s big brother, Snot, tells Rot about the Squirm that lives “deep down in the mushy muck,” his love quickly turns to fear. But he doesn’t give up! Instead, Rot imagines himself in various disguises to work up courage. There’s “Super Spud” (a superhero), “Sir Super Rot, the Brave and Bold” (a superhero-knight), and even “Sir Super Rot the Pigtato” (a, um, superhero-knight-pig-potato). The disguises are one thing, but, deep down, is Rot really brave enough to face the Squirm? Readers wooed by Rot’s charm in Rot: The Cutest in the World (2017) will laugh out loud at this well-paced encore—and it’s not just because of the butt cracks. Clanton creates a winning dynamic, balancing Rot’s earnestness, witty dialogue, and an omniscient, slightly melodramatic narrator. The cartoon illustrations were created using watercolors, colored pencils, digital collage, and—brilliantly—potato stamps. Clanton’s reliance on earth tones makes for some clever, surprising page turns when the palette is broken.
Cute and brave—gee, Rot’s spud-tacular! (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6764-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Make space for this clever blend of science and self-realization.
If Pluto can’t be a planet—then what is he?
Having been a regular planet for “the better part of forever,” Pluto is understandably knocked out of orbit by his sudden exclusion. With Charon and his four other moons in tow he sets off in search of a new identity. Unfortunately, that only spins him into further gloom, as he doesn’t have a tail like his friend Halley’s comet, is too big to join Ida and the other asteroids, and feels disinclined to try to crash into Earth like meteoroids Gem and Persi. Then, just as he’s about to plunge into a black hole of despair, an encounter with a whole quartet of kindred spheroids led by Eris rocks his world…and a follow-up surprise party thrown by an apologetic Saturn (“Dwarf planet has a nice RING to it”) and the other seven former colleagues literally puts him “over the moon.” Demmer gives all the heavenly bodies big eyes (some, including the feminine Saturn, with long lashes) and, on occasion, short arms along with distinctive identifying colors or markings. Dressing the troublemaking meteoroids in do-rags and sunglasses sounds an off note. Without mentioning that the reclassification is still controversial, Wade closes with a (somewhat) straighter account of Pluto’s current official status and the reasons for it.
Make space for this clever blend of science and self-realization. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68446-004-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Young Readers
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
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