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
Having attended his First Concert (2005), young Pecorino Sasquatch now moves on to Little League, where, drowning in an outsized jersey and with the threats of massive Coach Credenza ringing in his ears, he struggles to at least look like he has a clue about how to play. But not only has he never hit or caught a ball, he doesn’t even have bubble gum to “burble,” like everyone else on the field does. Happily, that last problem is solved by a gift left in distant right field by Pecorino’s (almost) equally clueless opposite number—and thanks to that gooey glob, he’s even able to make a spectacular, game-ending catch. Popeyed, wiener-nosed figures in Cantone’s scribbly mixed-media pictures impart a properly goofy air, and also reflect Madison’s delight in jokes and silly words, with which he’s liberally salted his tale. Read this aloud, and set children, athletically gifted or otherwise, to laughing. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-689-86522-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hazen offers a good answer to the eternal question, as well as a delightfully monstrous cast. Little Harry is happy when his mother croons “Euuu, my cute little monster child, / I love the way you warm my wild”—and considerably less so when she pays more attention to big bro Bruxley or little sister Bronwen. Sitting with him on his bed slab after the inevitable tantrum, she fields his titular query by asking him which of his creepy beasties he likes best: Tiny, Slimy or Whiny? Then she tosses his answer—“I love each the most but not the same”—back at him. Kovalski adds icky details (Harry’s beasties are, for instance, a hedgehog, a slug and a bat respectively) to cozy subterranean settings featuring a stout, green-furred (one parent) family with a reptilian house pet and a revolting diet. Only the latest of several recent proofs that the long tradition of playing out familiar domestic issues with families of monsters is as active and effective as ever, this one is particularly well-imagined. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7868-1810-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2006
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